Jeez this site is frustrating to use. ive tried over and over to post and it keeps freezing or deleting it over and over.

anyway, something is killing the tomatoes year after year. i even took a whole year off from this bed and covered with clear plastic.

what are my options moving forward?

Well Dave it seems that your tomato problem is a real head scratcher but when it happens to me (and I just disposed of 3 plants like that) I call it "Blight". A handy catch all phrase of several tomato problems which I'm sure someone here knows the specifics. As to what options you have? I start later tomato seeds in mid June for a late crop. Today those late plants have several young marble sized tomatoes which should be ripening up as the last of the early plants fade away, typically by Sept at the latest. Some of the late plants usually make it to first frost keeping fresh tomatoes on the table for Thxgiving (I hope ;-).

Your plant is inflicted with one of three fungi which will cause your plant to wilt as seen in the top picture, they are southern blight, Verticillium wilt and Fusarium wilt. All three do the same thing and destroys the plants ability to take up water, and are always confused with one another and are Look alike diseases.

Southern blight consumes the main stem so it can be easily identified just by looking at the stem, and what I saw in the first picture there was no evidence it's southern blight. The other two wilts effect water uptake a different way and not easy to tell apart but it doesn't matter because your plants can't be helped. Look up the two wilts and you will find it is impossible to treat the disease once infected. You have one of the two wilts,

You do not have Early blight, late blight or Septoria leaf spot. These three diseases are easily to identify and fairly easy to control with inexpensive fungicides available at any store garden department. I have Early blight and Septoria now that I have under control and get it nearly every year.

The two wilts and southern blight are hard to eradicate and require more than Solarization with a sheet of plastic to use the next year. Farmers use very expensive fumigating fungicides and special equipment to inject the treatment in the soil. These chemicals are no available in retail stores and in most cases require a application license to get them, Here is a paste of the management of these diseases when you get them. I had Verticillium wilt once and opted to not plant tomatoes in the area for about 10 years.

• Select resistant varieties. Planting resistant varieties will help inhibit severe symptoms of disease. <<< Only if I find something I like, but doesn't mean you won't get the desiease. Healthy well fertilized plants also have a better chance.
• Incorporate crop rotations. Rotating to non-host plants at 4-5 year intervals is advised for disease control. <<< what I do.
• Discard infected plant material. The fungus can survive for extended periods of time within plant tissue. The immediate removal of infected plants is necessary to discourage the persistence of the pathogen, if possible. <<< What I do every year.
• Soil solarization. Heating the top six inches of soil to high temperatures for an extended period of time can kill the fungus and reduce the number of infected plants. <<<< What I also do using a 3000 degree flame torch after I remove plant debris, then I till and torch again.
• Sanitize equipment and tools. Tractors and other equipment that travel between fields should be cleaned frequently to avoid transport of infected soil. <<< I don't do this but I should.
• Grow early-maturing varieties. Quickly-maturing crops are likely to begin producing fruit before they completely succumb to disease. <<< I never would grow icky tomatoes because they are early maturing so not negotiable for me.
• Control weeds. Asymptomatic weedy plants can spread disease to susceptible crops. Fields should be frequently and diligently maintained. <<< I do this the best I can.

I do appreciate the comments. ive read all of that online before and i suppose i was hoping someone had success somehow cleaning the soil.

i will plan on not growing tomatoes in this bed for a long time i guess.

I'm having that problem with my tomatoes too. I do try to routinely cut off the infected branches as they develop and burn them. Seems to slow down the progression to the rest of the plant, but it definitely is a challenge.

I agree with above early cutting branches seems to slow it but it seems to get worse and worse each year. I spray fungicide every 2 weeks alternating between daconcile and immunox