Thank you both. After looking into sunscald, that is exactly what it looks like. This is an 8 x 8 raised bed on the side of my yard, but nothing reflecting on it. I think the reason that it happened on this one plant is because these two popped up at the very top of the plant, which has less leaf cover than the lower sections. The scalded areas aren't (yet) too extensive, but I went ahead and cut these two, cut them open, discarded the bad parts. Everything inside looks and smells good. Thanks for your help! Glad to know it's not a fungus or blossom end rot (which is what I was dreading).

Dale, A picture would help greatly. It could be Blossom End Rot. It ravaged my tomato yield for a month. I lost 50+ tomatoes (all my yield). However, plants usually grow out of this condition after a while and the fruit is OK. It takes 3-4 weeks. It is due to inconsistent watering patterns just like we've experiened in SE Michigan this summer. It also could be a variety of insect pests. Many on this forum should be able to help diagnose it with a picture. I finally am starting to get a ton of C. Annuums to ripen. Nothing yet on the C. Chinense front yet, but pod set has picked up remarkably. Good luck. I know how much work it is to grow them and then the irritation of losing them to pests / environmental conditions. Thanks goodness we're not farmers, right? Chris

For the first time ever growing tomatoes, I had blossom end rot. I was growing these in pots -- three Roma tomato plants, a variety I've never grown before. And I was using a fresh bag of Miracle Gro potting mix. I didn't think it would need anything extra added to it, so I just transplanted the tomatoes and waited. I don't think I'll ever grow tomatoes in pots again. They looked horrible until I sprinkled a little 13-13-13 on the surface, figuring I'd just let them dissolve and seep down into the water. That made the plants take off like a rocket and turn a beautiful green color and they no longer have a rot problem. The same thing happened with a friend's tomato plants that I planted using the same potting mix. That wasn't the "Miracle" I had in mind when picking that potting mix. But I also planted some cowbell cayenne peppers and jalapenos in four clay pots (also in Miracle Gro potting mix -- freshly purchased bag). Little peppers would form and then fall off, and leaves were falling off, too! I didn't think to check to see if the little peppers were rotting, but a couple of cayennes have formed now and I'll be watching those closely.

First there are literally 100s of discussions about BER over on the Tomato forum, some running right now. So check those out please. The advice isn't "uneven watering" or "watering evenly", it is consistent soil moisture levels. A very different thing. Watering isn't a scheduled thing. It is as the soil moisture level needs it or not and the only way you can know that is by sticking your hand down into the soil. As rgreen said it is done deeply (soaking) and infrequently and every other day only creates shallow rooted, water-dependent plants. BER is something we all have to deal with in early spring. It happens long before you see it on the fruit. It happened way back while the fruit was still small and green. And it is most common on the very first fruit to set on the plant simply becasue the plant is young, its root system is young, and spring weather is inconsistent with all the rains. Once you can see it you toss those fruit and 9 times out of 10 you don't see it any more assuming you stabilize the soil moisture. But I can only stress that watering isn't something you put on a schedule. Most gardens never need daily watering and seldom need every other day. Once a week is an good average IF you are delivering enough water when you do it. So the most likely source of the problem is not deeply enough and way too frequently. That is why drip irrigation and/or soaker hose work so much better. How do you deliver water to your plants? And how long of a time does each plant get watered? Do you have a rain gauge in the garden or how do you measure how much each plant gets? Dave