Tomato leaf peril help!

I am container gardening this year. So far everything is going fantastic. I have beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers and scallions. I do have one issue, though. My patio tomato plant is suddenly having a problem. As you can see in the picture, the leaves have this brownish, copperish thing happening to them. If you rub your finger on the leaf, you get this sparkly, dirty-ish residue. I'm wondering if I over-dosed my poor plant with neem oil? None of my other plants are having issues, they're all green and producing wonderfully. Well, except for the cucumber plant, while thriving, I've noticed black ants on it. I've read not to worry about ants on cukes. I hope that's correct...

Anyway, back to the patio tomato plant... any ideas?? Should I prune off the bad leaves and hope new, healthy leaves return?

Thank you in advance for all your help!

Side note: I have noticed some new leaves growing and they look healthy.

Not sure what is going on, but if the new leaves are coming out OK, keep watching them. If they start showing spots then there is something moving from the old leaves onto the new leaves.

Do you see any webbing? It looks like Spider Mite damage to me, but there is also a mite that causes bronzing. Did this come on fast and are the leaves dry and crunchy?

You might try googling mite damage on tomato plants. Neem is great for mites but you need to really keep on it. I spray mine daily when I first notice them. If your weather is hot and dry you can try spraying the plant with water. I've noticed that my plants that get watered with the sprinkler have less issues with SMs but it can add to disease issues.

1lisac: Yes, it came on very fast. One day it was fine than then within a very short time it had taken over almost the whole plant. I'll try spraying it daily and see if that helps. Thanks again for your help, both of you! :)

I really think it's mites. They can actually kill the plant but they can be treated so that doesn't happen. Try googling mite damage on tomatoes and go to images. Mites dont like wet conditions but they love dry, hot weather so by spraying the plants with water the mites arent "happy". I've lost more plants to SM then I care to remember before I figured out what they were. Do you see any webbing?

Why were you using neem in the first place? Just wondering.

Its definitely spider mite, especially this time of the year. Probably a little sun scorch as a secondary issue b/c of the mites. If you spray them, pull them out of the sun or you will probably kill the plants. Also when I first started gardening I fell in love with roses. Spider mites love roses and they killed all of them even if I sprayed with Neem. Now I use a mixture of 1 tbsp of orange oil, 1 tbsp of liquid seaweed, 1tsp of dawn dish soap or any all natural dish soap if you have it, per gallon of water. I mix it up and then spray it on the under side of the leaves and then the rest of the plant. Neem oil if sprayed on a flower that a bee might come to will kill the bee. So no pollination. It will also kill ladybugs whom eat spider mites and aphids. Kills the mighty praying mantis and any other innocent insect in the way.

I have 2 Roma Tomato plants that look just like yours. I didn't think to look for mites since these plants are in the ground in my garden. Usually plants found outside don't have too many mite problems because they have so many other extremes to deal with. I've heard that indoor plants have way worse problems with mites then outdoor plants. You can bet that first thing tomorrow I'm going outback with a magnifying glass to examine these particular plants. I will let you know what I find.

Thanks everyone. It's definitely mites. *sigh* I believe I've lost this one plant, but at least I'm getting about 10 tomatoes from her before she dies. I'm still tending and trying but she's not putting out any more flowers, however her fruit is still ripening, so at least it's not a complete loss.

I'm still wondering why you were using Neem to begin with? No reason, just interested. Thanks!