Reply #19: I have had problems with tomatoes for years and years

[Ratty]

I have a small raised bed I used to grow tomatoes in. Cherry tomatoes were easy and grew like weeds, never had a problem with them. But any other kind simply died. The pattern was always the same, year after year. The plants would become healthy and enormous and I'd get the start of a large crop of tomatoes. But as they began to ripen the plant would start to die. It would turn brown starting at the bottom and work its way up. I'd get a few good tomatoes, maybe ten if I was lucky, before the plant died completely. I finally just gave up and haven't tried to grow any the last two years. Tried it with Early Girl, Beefsteak, Roma ... all kinds of varieties.

Probably not related to your post. I'm just bitching.