You have a bad case of tomato leaf roll going - note the green leaves - that is a sign of a stressed plant and there can be several causes of that stress: too much water, too little water, too much nitrogen fertilizer, too small a container, pests, etc.

This is not a disease but a physiological response of the plant to whatever is causing the stress. The dead lower branches is a normal response too and from what I can see from the photos I suspect that the primary problem is that your plant is root bound it its container - thus the leaf tip death.

But I can't be sure of that just from the photos. What variety is the plant (det./indeterminate), how old is it, what size is the container, what mix is in the container, what have you fed it, what has the weather been (excessive rain?), what is your watering schedule?

Dave

The first two pictures are a plant in the ground, the last ones are a plant in a 5-gallon spackle bucket. The plants were started from seed in . . . I guess. . . April (?) Planted out around the second week in May. They are all heirloom and indeterminate. The container has 1/3 well-cooked sheep manure/ straw compost, 1/3 peat, 1/3 vermiculite. I dumped hydroponic solution in the container once, several weeks ago. I did not notice any particular change at that time, and it was added only to the bucket and not to the plant in the ground. The bucket gets watered whenever I notice the leaves wilting. The plant that's in the ground has been watered maybe once (I don't have a hose hookup) It has been VERY hot and humid and pretty dry lately. I was surprised that the plants set fruit in the heat. I recently added woodchip mulch around the plants in the ground. I can haul buckets of water out to the garden if moisture might be the problem. The weird thing is that most of the plants in the ground look healthy and green, and that one plant is half dead. The plant in the ground is much worse off than the plant in the pot, and I didn't see it wilt before it turned brown and died. I was worried that it might be something terrible like viral wilt. I would be so relieved if it can be solved by watering more.

Thanks so much for the help, Dave

OK, first off you're gonna think I'm crazy. In my humble opinion I think you've got an over fertilization problem. Digdirt may agree on this one but too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen, can give you awful responses as the plants grow. We have a tendency to love our plants a bit too much and then problems arise. Think over your feeding regimen and check to see if you have fed them a bit more that recommended. This is only a suggestion and only you can decide if I'm wasting your time. It's worth a thought though, go easy with fertilizers. Best of luck.

Thank you for the input, but I haven't fertilized it at all.