Hard to tell from the photos.

Do the leaves turn yellow or develop lesions at all before they die, or do they just wilt and then dry up and die? What are the initial symptoms, and how does it progress?

Are any other parts of the plant affected, or just leaves?

How long has this been going on? Has it coincided with wet weather, hot weather, drought conditions, etc.--anything out of the ordinary?

What is the approx time frame between seeing initial symptoms and foliage collapse?

Sorry for the delay in responding. I'm having trouble uploading the pictures I took. I established my account on my IPad but it doesn't take good close up pictures, so I took them with my camera and I cannot seem to get the system to recognize them. Anyway, unless someone can tell me how to upload via my computer with an account established on an IPad, I will have to wing this without them.

The leaves get brown spots, then curl and dry until the entire leaf stem dies back to the main stem. This is the second year this has happened and all of my tomato plants, even ones I planted recently, are reacting the same way. I need to figure this out.

I cut the stem and there is not any brown inside. It looks fine. We rotate our crops as much as possible for a relatively small garden (20'x20'). We are not planting in the same area one year after another.

The brown spots and die back begins within a few weeks of planting. We have had very dry weather conditions but we have a soaker hose system, so we have kept things generally well water except when we went on vacation.

It dies back from the bottom up. The bottom of the plant is leafless, while the top continues to grow and produce tomatoes. The entire stem dies, flower buds and all.

I may try to sign my husband up from the computer to see if I can upload the pictures.

A type of tomato blight, a fungus that lives in the soil. It's splashed onto lower leaves during rain storms. I have it every year to varying degrees here in MO. This year it is not so bad, and I think it depends on rain, humidity and temperature.

I rotate my tomato patch to avoid places where leaves were dropped the previous year. I also mulch as soon as I plant to reduce the mud splashing. And I spray the plants (early this year - before any brown leaves were even visible, which may have helped). You can use chemical fungicide or less toxic sprays (sulfur, baking soda etc.).

It could be any number of fungal or bacterial foliage diseases. If I could get a better view, maybe I could narrow it down for you. Do you spray fungicide, Lynn?

After a plant is infected with one of these diseases, the response for most is the same. Prune off any affected foliage (don't let the leaves die on the plant like that, as that will just produce more spores--cut the leaves off when you see yellowing or spots on them) and seal the prunings in a garbage bag and throw it away. Spray a fungicide effective against a wide variety of fungal and bacterial diseases. Some options are chlorathonil (Daconil/Bravo), copper (there are organic copper formulas available as well), Mancozeb, biological antifungals (Serenade, Actinovate). Spray weekly, refreshing after rain. Keep pruning any newly affected foliage. This attempts to slow down the disease so you can get a harvest. It will not cure.

It could also be verticillium or some other soilborne wilt, though. It looks like the plant is wilting to me, but I can't see enough of it to say. If it is a soilborne wilt, then you can't deal with it by pruning and spraying. You will need to plant tomatoes in a new location for a few years, grow in containers, or grow resistant hybrids.

Thanks for your advice. We have only used Seven and not a fungicide. I wish I could post my photos, but I've been unsuccessful so far. The rest of the plant usually stays healthy looking until the die back reaches the top. I will take more precaution next year.

What did you use the Sevin for?

We have a lot of stink bugs and Japanese beetles.