I have the plants growing in moisture control Miracle Grow seed starting soil. While this may not be the perfect soil to use, that is all I could get at the time I started these. What makes me really wonder is when I move them to the greenhouse, sometimes the problem goes away although I water the same and the dirt is still the same. Although I don't have lights right above them in the greenhouse. (I know 6" may be too tall but I don't want to burn my plants and I had heard you could burn them. They are the gro florouscent type bulbs that you can get specifically for growing plants under. How low can I put them without damaging the plants? Below are some pictures of the problem. This first one shows a plant that just started to wilt this morning. By this evening when I took the photo, the 2 top leaves were totally wilted. As you can see from the photo, it looks like the roots and stem are fine so this probably wouldn't be a damping off problem would it? This photo shows the plant that is starting to wilt. And finally, this photo shows the leaves that instead of wilting so bad like the other plants, the ends of the leaves just dried up. (The wilted leaves above will dry up also in another day or so. So it could be the same problem, this one didn't wilt as bad though.) I hope this is enough info to help you figure out what is going wrong. I have been unable to grow broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage because of this problem. It attacks every year no matter what! Usually I manage to save only a few plants out of several hundred I start. Thanks for your help!

Where the leaf is stripped is definitely a caterpillar eating....the brown spots, I'm not certain. The small black flies lay larvae that make trails through the leaves (leaf miners), but I don't see evidence of those. Cabbage worm eating tomato plants sounds a bit like tomato fruit worm...you can Google for an image. You can pick them off, or if they seem to be out of control, you can try a BT spray. I am sure someone will have an idea about those brown spots.....

I am by no means an expert, but it looks like it could possibly be catfacing. If you do a search of this thread you are bound to find out more information. From a Colorado State Extension website catfacing is "a term that describes tomato fruit that is misshapen, with scars and holes in the blossom end. The cause is thought to be cold weather during blossoming and perhaps high levels of nitrogen. To manage it, avoid setting out transplants too early in the season." Hope that helps.

Robin, the best way to identify the problem is to take samples of the plants to your local extension office. They should be able to check for diseases or insect infestations that could be causing your symptoms and they may also know if there has been a problem in the past with the municipal compost. Also, a soil test is a good idea. The extension will have soil test kits for your that you send off to VA Tech or will let you know if there is a local lab that can do it for you. Overwatering, underwatering, cold nights, chemical drift from a neighbor's spraying, these are also things to consider. Without actually handling the plants and maybe looking at them under a microscope, it's always chancy to try to diagnose problems. Good luck.