Poor tomato plants

[Marb67]

Well this year my toms in the greenhouse have been below par to last years excellent crop. I am finding yellowing stems, some black patches and toms dropping off before ripening. I used professional horticultural grow bags that are a bit bigger than shop bought and have rock dust in them. Fed with comfrey and some chicken manure pellets soaked in water.

The outside ones are a bit better

[veggiechicken]

All the leaves below the lowest trusses should have been cut off by now.
Take off all the yellowing leaves - they're finished.
I remove all stems with black marks on - cut below the black and decide whether what is left if worth keeping.
Its the end of the season for tomato plants now - I'm taking out the past their best ones.

[Marb67]

VC - What do you think could be causing the fruiting stems to go pale and dry and shrivelling ?

[veggiechicken]

Did you have any fruit on them? If not maybe the flowers weren't pollinated

[Thelma Sanders]

It's the end of their life cycle, cold nights and shorter days cause the plants to die-back.

[Mark_Riga]

the black patches look like botrytis. Bob Flowerdew recommends applying urine if not too far progressed, particularly if on a stem with tomatoes higher up or in a bunch of developing tomatoes. The yellow leaves could be natural aging or over watering as don't need too much now. I've got loads of botrytis now. Looks like poor polination as VC says and this has allowed botrytis to attack them as the evenings and nights are a lot damper. They are a very finicky plant though. A little setback can cause a weak spot that later allows moulds to develop. Botrytis will rarely start in a stem and you should remove any affected leaves before it reaches the stem.

This year is definitely not as good as last. At this time last year I had 67kg from 20 plants and this year 46kg from 21 plants. But it shouldn't be the end just yet , particularly as your outdoor ones are doing better. Most years they are still ripening till at least bonfire night. Last year, my last harvesting was 10lb on the 17 November.