id ask someone like bamboo or moon grower or drbob as they will know the reasen why this has happend . im know expert on tomatoes myself sorry .

could they been scorched by the sun? I'm no expert either.....

Unfortunately, the photograph is badly lit, so too dark to see what's going on there - could be blossom end rot, could be tomato blotchy ripening, can't tell.

if you look closely it looks like blossom end rot to me .

did anyone water them while you were away ?

Blossom end rot is caused by erratic watering, Alex. I agree - it does look like that to me.

No-one watered them, but just before I went we had severe rainfall, but as I live in South East, and was holidaying in South West, I do not know about rainfall during my hoilday.

Thanks for the diagnosis. I shall destroy these tomatoes and keep an eye on the rest.

Unlikely to have been enough rainfall to soak the roots properly - grow cherry tomatoes next year, they need less water, and are less prone to this problem.

I agree blossom end rot. Toms need a huge amount of water... The photographer who came and took pix of me on Friday worked on a tomato farm on Uni vacation and said the plants got a gallon of water a day each!

wow thats a lot isnt it moon grower
more or as much as us id say

I had intended to grow cherry tomatoes, and have never had any problems with them.

Once my seedlings started to fail, I bought a very young tomato plant not realising that I had bought a "moneymaker" tomato plant.

I will be making sure I grow a cherry tomato plant next year should I want to grow them again.

I didn't grow any this year, after three years of blight. I might grow them again next year, I think. 'Gardener's Delight' is a good one.

gardeners delight never fails.

Any tomato will fail if not watered and fed properly.

Plus they 'do' still get blight. :-(( Is there a blight resistant variety?

Not that I am aware of...

Does anyone in Britain use copper sulphate? We were astonished to see our neighbour sprinkling blue powder over her tomatoes several years ago then, once we had moved here and were growing toms ourselves, she explained that the regular sprinkling of 'polvo azul' (blue powder) helps protect the plants against fungal infections. Can't say it works for definite - but we've had no problems and neither has she. Luck or good knowledge? Who can say. :o))

Copper sulphate, if used, should be sprayed onto the plant not put on as a powder. Though it is classed as 'organic' it builds up copper in the soil and is not really recommended unless blight is very likely to occur. Better to use decoctions of horsetail and nettle if possible but once the blight has hit nothing works.