The general rule for an sidedressed fertilizer is place about 6 inches or or more from the plant. and work into the soil. You don't want to touch the plant with the fertilizer. So it is a possibilty that you burned the plant. There are diseses which match your symptions. Southern Blight ( Sclerotium rolfsii.) for example. It can be a major problem on tomatoes here..

Thanks. That makes sense. I wish I had done some research beforehand. You live and learn I guess. I'll research southern blight too. Would it have effected all of my tomatoes and none of the other plants though? My tomatoes are spread out between two different beds.

Best time to fertilize is right before a rainstorm. Failing that, I would water deeply afterwards.

Can you post pictures?

A lot of people see the word "organic"and think it means Safe. Then they kill their plants.

I get so busy before a rainstorm. There are seeds to be scratched in, fertilizer to be broadcast. The other lesson from this (I burned a hardy kiwi plant with wood ash too, way back in the late 1990s): use organic matter! It will even protect your plants from synthetic fertilizer, by buffering the soil against sudden chemical changes.

There's still time, in zone 6, to plant more tomatoes if you're OK with getting ripe ones late in the season. Just start over.

The fertilizer used by the OP was labeled organic. Didn't seem to have given much protection.

organic matter, not organic fertilizer. any 10-x-x fertilizer will burn the same.

Whenever I fertilize with granular fertilizer I always get it on the leaves and stems, no matter how careful I am, because there's never "no breeze" around here. I haven't ever noticed any burned areas afterward, but then I make sure I water thoroughly, and wash any residue on the leaves off.

Useful thread. I am very careless when I do fertilize my plants.

Time of fertilizing and southern blight attack may be possible coincident. In my opinion southern blight would be the problem.

Caelian

Kimosabe:
I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles! First, don't be embarrassed. My first year as a gardener I didn't harvest ONE thing. Lol! The best advice I ever got about gardening was this: It takes about 3 years to become a successful gardener. I found that rule totally accurate. I reminded myself of that during my less-than-stellar second year, and felt great my third year when I was eating fresh veggies from my garden! Even now, I get better every year. It's always an on-going experiment, full of trial and error. Just embrace it and know that we ALL experience garden failures regularly!

That said, while fertilizing can be a tricky art -- and previous posters are right about the dangers of burning and over-feeding -- What you're describing sounds like more than this! I would NOT expect over-fertilizing to kill your plants outright like that. Maybe just hinder their production. I guess if it was a really nasty fertilizer and you piled it directly around the stems, smothering them, you could kill them off, but if you followed the directions and sprinkled them around the base of the plants, I don't think your stems would have rotted through and gone rancid. Post some pics if you have them! I'm really curious. I would have to cast my vote that you got hit with a plague of some kind. Disease is more likely to do across the board, total and havoc-wreaking damage like you're describing.

Replant and keep trying! Don't give up!

Organic does not necessarily mean harmless. Almost anything can be toxic if applied in high enough doses - even water. Even though you followed directions, the fertilizer may have been too intense if it was indirect contact with the stem. Then again, it could be a coincidence. We gardeners are always learning.

Sorry about your tomatoes. I did something similar to what you did but had the opposite outcome.

I put down Espoma Tomato-Tone about 10 days ago and never watered it in because I had a hunch we were in for an extended rainy period (which we are still currently in) in NJ.

My tomatoes have gone bananas since then. All I did was measure three tablespoons and applied it in a circular fashion around the stem no less than 3 inches from the stem. See pics below from another thread.

The shorter plants are those that I started from seed three weeks after the first set of plants but they are all healthy and happy it seems. I'm no expert but if it worked for me....maybe give Tomato-Tone a try next time??

Here is a link that might be useful: my tomatoes