Honestly, I guess it could be mole damage, but due to the number of plants similarly affected and the fact that you were not able to find any significant damage on the roots - I'm going to have to guess it's some sort of disease / wilt.

There would have to be significant root damage to cause the plants to wilt like that and if you didn't notice any, then it has to be a disease of some kind.

Anything else out of the usual that may have triggered this? Extremes in water / weather?

Thanks for responding, homegarden. The weather has climbed into the 90's gradually, but I wouldn't say anything has been extreme as far as water or weather. When the first couple wilted I hoped it was just those plants were dry, so I watered them well with no change. That's actually the first time I've watered any of them since I put them in the ground.

Most of my 54 plants are heirloom, but I'm glad I chose a few hybrids now. One of the jet stars is wilting too, but not to the extreme the heirlooms have (yet, anyway). I'm just hoping they aren't the only thing that makes it out alive. Especially since most of them are loaded with fruit right now. :*(

First thing I would do is remove the affected plants from the garden without spilling any of the attached soil. Like maybe wrap the dug up root wad in a tarp to move the plant and dispose of it altogether.

Next I would disinfect my shovel and other gardening tools as well as the cages that touched the plants.

Keep your garden well drained if at all possible.

Rotate your tomatoes out of that particular location next time you plant and employ a cover crop for those growing spots from a list provided at this link: Bacterial Wilt

Oh, no. I am near tears. I just pulled up 9 plants. All my back-breaking trips to bring in the amendments, all the months I spent babying the seedlings and talking to them, and every trip to the garden for inspection for caterpillars and hornworms have been for nothing. I'm going to lose every single one of them, aren't I? Am I going to lose my cukes and squash also?

When I did the cutting, I didn't see any white liquid and nothing came out when I stuck a few different cuttings in water, so I thought perhaps it wasn't bacterial wilt. But, hoosier, that link was pretty spot on. I would gladly feed a mole now. I have a feeling tonight will be a 10-beer night with a few tears in it.

If the cut stems do not respond as shown in the fact sheet then it may not be bacterial wilt. Please read and follow the directions closely as it is explained thoroughly in the instructions.

hoosiercherokee - thanks for the very informational PDF you linked to, only one complaint, I had a horrible dream last night that my tomatoes were wilting one at a time from BW (not even joking)....but it was relieving to wake up and realize they're all OK. lol

We have "voles" and reading up on the whole mole versus vole thing I found that it's voles that eat plant material not moles. Moles eat grubs etc. I think it was voles last year that had so much fun in my garden but this year we have decided to let the cats out at night (to protect the wild birds we only let them out at night) but I want them to catch the voles, mice and any other small furry creatures--they've caught a vole already along with a few mice.

I pulled two more plants today. My Black Cherry, the one I was so anxious to taste, has started wilting, so it's next. I did eat my first two cukes today, as well as a Bloody Butcher and a few Matt's Wild cherries, but it was bittersweet. I guess I should enjoy them while I can.