Excellent link Dave.

Yes, that's so helpful! Looks like I have both stinkbug damage and the yellow shoulder issue (not much I can do about catfacing and we got a sudden rainy spell causing the split). I can get stinkbug traps, but how would I add shade to help prevent the yellow shoulders?

Are you pruning the plants?

Any pics of how they look?

Yeah it is usually aggressive pruning that leads to sunscald and yellow shoulders. If you are into pruning a lot for some reason then about all you can do is pick the fruit at color break and ripen them indoors out of the sun.

Dave

The only branches I've pruned have been low ones close to the ground. The plants only get direct sun during midday, and it may technically not be enough for the tomatoes--they are very tall with plenty of space between branches, like giant leggy seedlings that haven't had enough sun. (I'll try to upload a photo later.) I will try picking early and letting ripen indoors. Thank you!

One thing that might lead to blotchy ripening in some cases is a fungal disease such as anthracnose or alternaria. I've found that diseased fruits sometimes don't ripen as quickly around where the pathogen damage is most concentrated. This is probably a defense machinism of the plant, since unripe fruits don't rot as easily. I'm not saying this is the cause of all blotchy ripening, but it does visibly seem to be the cause of some of it, or at least an uncanny coincidence. So, I'm saying it's possible (not definite) that a disease is trying to rot the fruit, and the plant is defending itself.

"One thing that might lead to blotchy ripening in some cases is a fungal disease such as anthracnose or alternaria. "

True but the plant, not just the fruit, would also be displaying the disease symptoms. Both diseases affect the plant profoundly before the ripening fruit shows any symptoms.

Dave

In regards to Pic 1, I believe some sort of nutrient overdose or deficiency can cause the same thing... I forget the details. I believe it is a calcium issue that I am thinking of.

ncrealestateguy, isn't blossom end rot from insufficient calcium? I did find a few places that sometimes problems taking up potassium (even if there's enough in the soil) could result in the yellowing. But maybe I should get the soil tested--with moving in right before spring planting and the ensuing craziness with little people, it was all I could do to get plants in the ground. I figured there's no better way to learn a new place than to just try and see what happens!

"True but the plant, not just the fruit, would also be displaying the disease symptoms. Both diseases affect the plant profoundly before the ripening fruit shows any symptoms."

I think that depends on things, including how humid/arid the climate is. Foliar issues with anthracnose on tomatoes in my garden are rare, but I see infected fruits sometimes.

With watermelons in my garden it's kind of the opposite. The leaves get it the most, and the fruits are mostly fine.

I think this has something to do with the feeding habits of local spider mites, which I've read can help spread anthracnose.

Dinner_s, I am not speaking of BER, but there is something else, nutrition wise, that can cause yellow spot on the outside and inside of plants. I have seen it before on my fruits, and read about it here too.

I'm sure someone here will chime in...

Maybe you are referring to the fact that Yellow shoulder can be a symptom of low potassium in fruit, NC? But it isn't as much a low soil K issue as a mal-distribution issue like with Ca and BER.

And again, just as with fungal diseases, the plant would also show symptoms of low K like marginal chlorosis of the leaves. And based on the info provided there are no plant symptons, just fruit symptoms.

Occam's Razor - The more assumptions you have to make to reach a conclusion, the more unlikely the explanation is. So the simplest explantion is often the best. ;-)

Dave

Thanks again, everyone! I think there are multiple issues with the new garden. Bringing fruit inside to ripen has helped, but they're still not the killer mix of sweet with acid that one wants from a homegrown tomato. This could be due to soil quality, location, amount of sunshine, or even variety (i was given the seedlings). We will probably soil test and build a raised bed next year as well as start our own seedlings and continue to see what happens!

I would suggest for flavour you grow some Heirlooms like Ananas Noir, OTV Brandywineor Sudduth Strain, Aunt Gerties Gold, Kellogg's Breakfast, and such. Also build up the tilt/your soil with organic materials including composted cow or chicken poop, stay away from chemical fertilizers like Miracle Grow, use Neem-organic from Neem tree for insecticide, fungicide, miticide-it is not a contact killer so must be sprayed weekly until plants ok. AND never spray Neem while sun is up-protect our pollinators-bees.