It could be the fertilizer was too strong. It could be the nasty heat we had a few weeks ago. It could be disease.

You might want to take a sample (the whole plant roots and all if you can spare it, large sample if you can't spare the plant) to your local extension office for a diagnosis. If it's a disease, they should be able to tell you which one and what to do about it next year.

Good idea, thanks.

Where would "your local extension office" be in NoVa?

Look in the blue pages (government listings) in your phone book under your county. It should be listed as Cooperative Extension or maybe Virginia Cooperative Extension. Or look it up on the VA Tech website in the link below.

Most of the services they provide are free, sponsored through state land grant universities such as Virginia Tech. Plant samples can be diagnosed at their office if someone there is qualified or they will be sent to Tech for diagnosis in the labs there. The extension service is a wonderful resource for gardeners. I highly recommend it to anybody with questions about their plants or soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Extension offices in Virginia

Thanks Sandy. That's the other side of the county from me and not easy to get to, but it's good to know it's there if I ever really need it.

Also, you all may have seen the article in yesterday's Washington Post about how difficult tomatoes have been this year, particularly the beefsteaks. I think it was the heat, although Ts are tropical.

Our county has a courier service from all branches of the library to the extension office. It really makes it convenient to send samples to them. You might give yours a call next week and see if they have something similar.

I am willing to bet that the hardwood mulch had too much acid for the poor boys. I agree you do need a soil test to find this out. I also had poor results from better boys this year and didn't use the mulch. I think I will go back to my old favorites, the Celebrity, it doesn't crack with too much rain and I have better luck with it in the heat.

what is the average size of better boys?

Sorta ~ your question should have been posted to make a separate thread. The form for a new posting is all the way at the bottom of the opening page for each forum.

However ~ I find BB's usually slightly larger than a tennis ball, slightly smaller than a softball. Happy plants with plenty of regular water will make mostly the larger size. Very similar to Celebrity, although my C's have a tendency to be a bit smaller.