Once they fall, I bring them into the house to finish ripening out of direct sunlight. They do ripen a bit, but they begin to dry out/shrivel before fully ripe (see the picture). The tomatoes on the left have been in the house for three days. The tomatoes on the right fell off today. You can see how small they are compared to he nickel.

Here are some details:

These plants were grown from seed and planted out in our raised beds which were amended with 2" of compost (cow and mushroom). We also added the recommended organic fertilizer per planting hole. We grew the same tomatoes under the same conditions last year with GREAT success.

The weather conditions this year are vastly different. Last year, we were under severe drought conditions and I had to water deeply every few days using soaker hoses. This year, we have had a LOT of rain and cooler temperatures. We haven't noticed any pests (hornworms or aphids) either.

We are growing three different tomato varieties from seed (Roma VF, Super Sweet 100, and an heirloom called Siberian Pink Honey). We have no problems with the other varieties and we're stumped. Does anyone have any clue as to what the problem is? Not enough fertilizer? Too much water?

You help and expertise will be greatly appreciated!

Sharon

Often ill plants hurry up on ripening their fruits. Also damaged fruits ripen up faster and fall off. We have seen this in apples and other fruits with worms. I would cut those tomatoes and check if there is a worm hole or other insect damage on them.

Then the next most common cause of those symptoms is excessive sun exposure on the fruit yet your plants look like the fruit is fairly well shaded by foliage, at least those in the photo. So when you bring them in are you placing them where they can be hit by the direct sun on the kitchen counter? That would explain it so make sure they are kept out of the sun.

As to the fruit drop - quick release - that too can be weather related and is also triggered by excess nitrogen as well as several other plant stressors. It isn't actual fruit abortion but the cause is similar - plant stress so it sheds the fruit.

That stress could be just the "lot of rain" effect on the roots and cooler temps - which you can't control of course. Just make sure there aren't any stressors that you can control and then hope for an improvement in the weather.

I think all of us who had a bad year last year due to drought held out high hopes for this year thanks to the early wet spring. Unfortunately because of the ongoing wet weather and cooler temps few of our hopes are coming true. Little comfort I know but it's the nature of gardening some years.

Dave

I'll update this post as the season continues.

Here's hoping there will be a change in the weather and we all have a better harvest than we thought!

Cheers!

Cannot really off any advice on the toms though, at least not expert advice.

All I can suggest, on the positive side is the that the plant knows best and decided to drop those fruits, perhaps because it had such a big crop? Too may mouths (tomatoes) to feed? But why would it drop them? Well maybe if they rotted on the plant the whole plant might become diseased?
Sacrificed for the greater good?
I am just guessing of course, I am a novice grower, just trying to apply some tomato logic.
I guess it remains to be seen how the plant will get on.
There is picture of my Roma in the linked blossom end rot thread. I am just wondering how long that big one has tell it ripens. I think some of mine fell off last year too, but they were all hit by disease. I would consider ripening ones falling off a success, none of mine got that far before disease set in!!
I'm in the UK though and they are outside, so I was never expecting much, I started earlier this year and am hoping things will be better this year as the weather has been better (sunnier) too. All my plants are twice the size as well, it's like a jungle out there!!!

Best of luck with the rest of them!!