That's correct, they did not start to become droopy until I moved them. I moved them because they were only getting maybe 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. There were no issues before transplanting other than growth seemed to have stopped.

I have now covered them with a tarp and given them some water and am hoping that they bounce back and this is just transplanting shock. At this point I have not added anything to the soil since moving them. Is there a certain amount of time I should wait for them to bounce back before writing them off? What are tge signs of disease caised by the soil?? Sorry, I'm new to all of this.

I appreciate all of your input.

You said you're a first time gardener. If you're not growing in a community plot and you haven't just moved into a place where the previous resident had a veggie garden, I would not worry about soilborne disease. Those take some years to build up, and the soil in a new garden is \unlikely to have them.

Re: writing the plants off, I'd give them some time before I started thinking about pulling them. Moving plants established in the ground is different from moving plants from a pot into the ground, and I haven't tried moving established in-ground plants. But this is what I'd do:

In the AM, I would expect the plants to look better after the hours of cooler temps and darkness. If a plant looked like the one in the background of your bottom pic tomorrow AM, I'd prune off some of the oldest, biggest leaves to try to reduce the water demand from the foliage. One that looked like the plant in the foreground I'd probably leave alone. I'd make sure to shade the plants for the next few days. If your tarp is opaque, that's fine for the next day or so, but then I'd probably switch to a shadecloth or something like a sheet that filters light but doesn't block it entirely.

I would not get alarmed if the plants drooped during the hot part of the day for the next few days (sometimes, totally healthy plants that are not shocked do that when things get very hot, anyway). I'd remove any foliage that collapses (not just sort of soft and droopy but totally limp).

And I'd really only lose hope in a plant if it totally collapses, as long as the variety is indeterminate. Although kind of wimpy when it comes to disease, tomato plants are super resilient when it comes to physical trauma and will surprise you with their ability to get past it and thrive. If you don't need that space for other things, give them a good chance.

It's true that diseases may take advantage of weakened plants, but it's way more likely to be foliage disease than root disease if you're gardening in "virgin dirt". So I would be proactive and start a fungicide spraying regimen. I wouldn't start feeding them until new growth starts up again.

This is just what I'd do. I hope someone who has experience moving established in-ground plants chimes in and corrects anything that's wrong.

Did your plants survive transplant, or were they just too far along?

They survived and are now doing great!! I covered them so they were in the shade for 4-5 days and I watered them twice a day and sprayed them with a water bottle daily. I also got rid of any stems that were looking rough. They came back healthy and are now growing like crazy.

The plants that were doing awful have now started to fruit and are coming along nicely. I guess they just didn't like the move! Thanks again for all your suggestions! I'm glad I didn't just give up on them!!

This is a picture from 3 days ago of the plant I thought was completely gone.

That's terrific! Hoping you get a great harvest.