Firstly, they are almost touching the soil, are sicky... no need to keep them.I would just prune them off and spray the plants with fungicide

Secondly, I also see some leaf rolling. It can be an indication on TOO MUCH moisture/water.

Drying leaves can be caused by over fertilizing.

Let me ask you: What kind of medium (potting soil) are your plants in?

And how often/ how much you fertilize them ? What is the fertilizer brand and analysis ?

Sey

Trim the branch, but it might just be a little bit of sunscald?

Sorry this is happening to your one healthy plant!

Jenn

I would remove all the sick leaves.

I would remove the flowers and the small tomatoes.

I would wait a while for the plant to be healthier.

I would also mulch and fungicide.

Stick your finger in the potting mix to determine if dry, moist or wet -- I vote for dry just from the appearance.

I also suspect the soil. Looks very rich. What's in it?

Below is the info for the soil the nursery recommended I use. I mixed with maybe 2 handfuls of perlite and maybe a tbsp or two of tomato plant food. In the last 2 months post transplanting I've sprayed neem oil a time or two for whiteflies and aphids. As you recommended the other day I removed the brown leaves and sprayed with fungicide.

It doesn't seem to drain all that well, in my novice opinion. Overwatering may be so lately because the weather has been hot and so I water (only once 3 inches down feels dry) and then we've had several surprise rains which maybe have thrown things off lately. The top looks/feels quite dry but 3 inches down the soil is very wet and compact. It's a bit troubling to me how dense it seems to be down below.

Any thoughts?

And can someone explain the rationale for getting rid of all the blooms and fruit now? Does the plant seem that sick? Is it really too early in the season at this point to be getting fruit (my understanding of why people usually do that when de-stressing the plant isn't necessary)?

Masters' Pride Professional Potting Soil

Ready to Use! Ideal for indoor and outdoor use. Great for any container: Grow Pots or hanging baskets.

What's in it? Contains a blend of natural and organic ingredients including:

• Firbark, Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss, Redwood Compost, Mushroom Compost, Volcanic Pumice, Earthworm Castings, Perlite, Chicken Manure, Washed Sand, Kelp Meal, Bat Guano, Feather Meal and Gypsum
• Oystershell and Dolomite Lime are added as pH adjusters
• A natural wetting agent, Yucca shidegera saaponin, has been added to help remoisten this product
• 5 species of Ecto Mycorrhizal fungi, 3 species of Endo Mycorrhizal fungi and humic acids are added to encourage microbial action in the soil

Picture of the plant (foreground) back in mid to late April when I transplanted:

Your potting mix sound ok.
How many, how big drain holes the pots have?
Small hole can get clogged up due to compaction. But if you see water running out soon after watering then it is ok. I usuall pack around the hole (inside before filling) with large pine barks, chunky gravel .. to prevent clogging.
Although the initial mix has some fertilizer (compost ..) , I would fertilize it with some water soluble ferts of choice @ 1/3 strength every 3rd watering time. Nutrients level in containers change/ go down due to frequent watering and leaching out. That is why I fertilize mine very lightly and very often.

I have been growing in Earthboxes and homemade SWC's for years with my share of mixed results. Overall though I have been happy. The one thing though I have never used in any container is anything that is labeled as potting soil. I only use potting mix. Sand is an ingredient in your mix and in a container that is not good. Not to mention all of the other stuff in the ingredients that are nothing but a gimmick to make people think WOW. The nursery led you astray. I learned years ago and being into gardening for nearly 40 years, I don't listen to people that work at nurseries. I agree with the diluted feedings but be careful not to overdo it. With your potting soil, it will not leach out nearly as fast as you may think. One thing now that I think you can do to make your growing season a success with your containers is shade your pots from the sun. Here in Kansas, we just went through a week of 95+ degree temps and roots hate that much heat. You also need to poke some half inch deep holes with a fork all around the surface in your pot. This will get some air flow to your roots. Take your time, don't go willy nilly with the fork and your plant will love you for it. Also around the edge of your pot, get a wire coat hangar and drive holes the entire depth of your pot. Your pot is compacted and we need to loosen it up as much as possible and at the same time not disturbing your tomato.

First, it is not sunscald. Sunburn will leave behind papery thin, tannish, whitish burn spots. Not dark brown / black spots.

You have leaf curl which suggests that the plant is under a lot of stress caused by some external pressure besides fungal. My guess is either too much water, or too much fertilizer. Or both. I have seen the leaf curl degrade into the black patches before on my plants when the above pressures were present. The leaf curl starts first, and then some of the leaves get very wimpy feeling, then turn black, and then die. But there is no sign of a pathogen. I have two or three plants doing it right now. And the symptoms usually affect different varieties differently. I have almost 20 varieties and only two varieties are showing the leaf curl. Usually, if you get rid of the stressors, the plant will revive and be just fine.

I wouldn't sweat fertilizer right now. Your plant will tell you if it is hungry. Your soil does have nutrients in it and it is still very early into the growing season so your plant has not had the chance to use them up. Keep the pot shaded and loosen the soil up every so often and you will be good. You will get some sun scald on your leaves on those hot and windy days even if your pot is completely soaked. Nothing you can do about it. A container tomato just doesn't have the root network to keep up with the transpiration of moisture a tomato plant goes through each day (upwards of 5 gallons on a mature plant). Hang in there, be patient and you will be eating tomatoes in no time.

Can someone explain the rationale for getting rid of all the blooms and fruit now? Does the plant seem that sick? Is it really too early in the season at this point to be getting fruit (my understanding of why people usually do that when de-stressing the plant isn't necessary)?

I would not do it personally (although I realize some will disagree).

The rationale is this: the plant has an energy budget. If it spends some of it's budget on making blooms and fruit, it has less energy to spend on growing roots and leaves (and eventually more tomatoes).

Now I would agree it'd be nice if your plant grew a lot bigger. It's not really that sick, but it is definitely stressed and it's quite small for how much fruit is on it. It's fruiting hard now because it's under stress and it's desperate to reproduce. My sungold is producing ripe fruits now, but it's 6 feet tall.

But, I believe it can recover and grow with fruit still on it. It might go slower than if you took the fruit off, but I am a firm beliver a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. The philosophy of taking blooms off when transplanting or the plant is stressed is thinking about the two in the bush.

There is no such thing as too early in the season to be getting fruit. It's just about this idea that somehow early fruit stunts the plant later, which I don't believe. In the case of a stressed plant, it's not a totally unreasonable suggestion, but I just wouldn't choose to go that route.

For me, I'd rather keep the plant with the fruit and just buy a new plant, rather than trying to "reset" this one. With the size it is, there'd be no difference.

I suspect the drainage is not the greatest, as you are thinking. There's probably a high proportion of peat and compost in the soil and it probably is holding too much water. (I don't use potting soil in my pots either, I have never found any that's worth a darn.) You can find out about the moisture level in the bottom of the pot by using a bamboo skewer or chopstick to stick down in the bottom of the pot. My advice would be to do this, and don't water until it's nearly dry in the bottom. This, plus the aerating you just did, will help your plants roots get some air.

Next time, you could try using a LOT more perlite, or better yet try a different type of mix. I use Gardener & Bloome Planting Mix, 6 parts of that to 1 to 2 parts perlite. That mix is bark-based and meant for raised beds. I get so much better results with it. It's really criminal what they put in bags of "potting soil."

Also, I have found many commercial pots do not drain well even with nothing in them. Check by putting water in the empty pot. Sometimes the holes are not at the lowest point in the pot. Often the nice glazed ceramic pots also don't drain well. I try to make more holes in the pot when this is true.

It's ok to put screen or broken pottery over a single hole to prevent soil from clogging or flowing out - but do NOT put a layer or gravel or anything else at the bottom of the pot. This is common advice, but actually impedes drainage.

Jenn

ps: ncrealestateguy, thanks for the description of sunscald. I don't get a lot of it here :)

winorchids, Jenn explained you above the rationale.

I would only like to add that I'm a HUGE fan of NOT removing low blossoms or fruits.

I transplanted (forced by circumstances) seedlings 2-3 ft. high, with blossoms and even 1-2 oz. fruits and many became later the heaviest tomatoes in my garden.

But those seedlings were VERY healthy and vigorous.

"My sungold is producing ripe fruits now, but it's 6 feet tall."

Oh wow. Well that sure puts it into perspective! I'll wait to water (I have a gauge I can stick in which measures water). I'll have to look into a better medium for containers.

Thank you!

Nice that you have a watering gauge. If Gardener & Bloome brand is sold in your area, it will be at independent nurseries but not big box. Maybe try another nursery if one's convienient. I know your results have been so disappointing so far - here's hoping for the recovery of your plants!