Growing Tomatoes- Help!

I think you're just not buying the right kinds of seeds. You need to pick a variety which has some chance of doing well in the tropics - cherry and grape being the easiest. A couple of years ago I bought seeds from gourmetseeds.com and all of them grew beautifully - particularly a hybrid which produced almost purple tomatoes which were the most incredible I've ever tasted. BUT, for all the work that went into carefully cultivating them, moving them around out of direct midday sun and protecting them from the inevitable pests which hone in on them, it really wasn't worth the effort for just two or three tomatoes on each bush.

I always had much better success with cherry toms as they are a tropical fruit.

You might find this helpful as it addresses air and soil temperature:

http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/bhg020-why-wont-my-tomatoes-ripen/

Go buy a locally from tomato at the marketplace that you KNOW is locally grown and plant those seeds.

baker creek has awesome seeds. see what they have

Yes on the local seed for sure. Shade cloth helps with the heat but soon it will be just to hot. Cherry tomatoes do well here. The sparrows love them.
I'd say start your seeds around thanksgiving and have some a BT ready for the inevitable catapillers.

The sparrows love them.

Sparrows?

Check out Tomato Growers Supply on the net. Been ordering from them for years. They can be helpful in selecting varieties that grow well here.... I have 3 varieties from them growing in a hydroponic setup that I made and havent had any problems with growing fruit/ripening

Great, thanks.

As for seed variety, VF100? Gardeners delight? Cherry? Which strain particularly? Germination isn't an issue.

Also, they can't take full midday sun?

I have friends that built a tomato house. It's a bout 8 ft. tall and is fenced on 4 sides and top with chicken wire, they use a shade clothe for top. The chicken wire enclosure keeps the thrushies and iguanas at bay. They grow them in very large planters and have about 20 plants of different varieties going at a time and get lots of tomatoes. This is a lot of work but their tomatoes, which I have been fortunate to share, from time to time, are awesome.

I've found that a shade break does help em..... I have a variety called Goliath from Tomato Growers that has been doing awesome..... PM me and I can send you some pics.......