I grew four tomato plants this year - Cherokee purple and black brandywine. Every single tomato rotted just before/as they started to ripen. It definitely was not BER. I don't think it was grey mold, either. The rot almost seems to come from the inside. A large squishy spot would develop on the skin, usually on the top, followed by the whole tomato rotting and developing mold. The mold came after the rotting and was never on any other part of the plant. When the fruit was green, it was big and beautiful and looked very promising. Earlier fruit did have a tendency to crack, but later ones still rotted with out the cracks. I brought the last green tomatoes inside to ripen and the same thing happened (they were hard and clean when I picked them)

The plants did have a somewhat hard life. They were shipped as small plants from California and grown from California accustomed seed. Once the plants were here in Pennsylvania, they were grown in pots and looked very healthy. I understand that this year was wetter than normal. My mother had the same problem with the heirlooms that she planted in the ground (same California seed/plants, but green zebra and something else).

Now, here's my problem. I unthinkingly tossed the rotted green tomatoes in my compost at my new house. Did I just bring a rotten (excuse the pun) virus into my pristine new garden? Any ideas on what might be going on here? Or how to prevent it? Just as background, my garden is completely organic.

Thanks for the help,

Bellatrix