tomato leaf problem identification

Fredericksburg, VA

Hi. Can anyone tell me what this is on my tomato leaves? There was an aphid infestation on all my tomatoes, so I did an experiment where I sprayed some with a lot of neem oil, and some with a little bit of neem oil. The neem oil killed a lot of them, but I ended up just killing the rest with my fingers because it was easier.

So, the plant I sprayed the most is suddenly developing this brown rust-like growth on its leaves. It's also present on other tomato plants, but only on the very lowest leaves. This one plant has it all over very suddenly. It's been a lighter green than the other tomato plants since the beginning, but it grew enormous very fast so I kept it around. I've also been experimenting with it keeping it in an area where it gets eleven hours of sun a day, along with two other plants, to see if it can tolerate the increased sunshine, though this is the only one to have such bright yellowish green leaves. I don't know what the brown spot is -- neem oil burn? Fungus? Virus? I haven't found anything online that quite looks like it. If it's neem oil burn, I don't want to throw it away. Thanks in advance.

Thumbnail by robertbparker81
Oakland, CA

I have more questions than answers for you at this point. Tomatoes can present so many different challenges. We grow tomatoes each year and there are always surprises and things to learn. So trying to get more information first as different things can cause the leave discoloration. I'm thinking it could be anywhere from too much neem oil, to too much sun, or too many things tried at the same time.

How often did you apply the neem oil and in what concentration? (For example adding too much soap can cause leaves to burn.)

When you say "a lot of neem oil" what are you meaning?

When did you apply the neem oil? (Best not to apply it at the hottest part of the day)

Have you been fertilizing these tomatoes in addition to applying neem oil? If so, how often are you fertilizing them?

In my experience tomatoes do best with about 8 hours of sunshine daily. I'm wondering about your decision to try and give it 11 hours? Since this plant is getting that much direct sun, it could be getting burned.

More information would be helpful.

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