I have been having a lot of trouble with my coleus lately. I thought at first it was cyclamen mites because i couldn't see anything, only symptoms from the plants. The first signs i noticed were curling/ crimping of leaves and very stunted growth. Then the lower leaves started dropping. Some were yellow, some were really brown and dried.

I finally saw actual insects a week ago and IDd them as leafhoppers -- BUT i am sure they were not there before (i am really dreading that my plants had been infected with the microscopic cyclamen mites). Some of the coleus had been reduced to a few leaves and the bushiest ones were the worst affected (of course, if i were a bug, i would go for the buffet). I started using my homemade soap spray -- which worked well enough before for the mites and mealybugs in both my succulents and ornamental plants -- until i realized that almost all of my coleus were affected (14 out of 16, how about that). Well, i have little time nowadays to spray all of them regularly and I read that the other beneficials might be affected. I had noticed a few clumps of eggs and a small beetle so i researched first. The eggs, which were on stalks, MIGHT be lacewings, so i let them be.

I spent one afternoon handpicking all the leafhoppers i could see from my coleus and i just drowned them all in alcohol (they have interesting blue green "blood"/ innards when they burst or are crushed). I hope doing so helped tremendously in decimating their population though i know that there are probably nymphs and eggs about. The beetle i let alone for a couple of days thinking it might get at the tinier leafhoppers. I also employed our friendly neighborhood spiders. I caught several from our allamanda tree and dropped them onto the plants.

I was feeling clever about these steps when, tonight, as i was looking at pictures of my damaged leaves (for documentation) i realized that the leaves had nibbles/ notches and so far, from what i've read, this was not consistent with leafhopper damage. I remembered a link a GW member sent me and compared it to the beetle i had cleverly left alone. It was the evil weevil!

I use mainly fresh soil for my coleus. But there were some pots in which i recycled soil (i know, i know). I've read that the weevil larvae does the most damage... do you think it could be the main cause of my plants' sickly growth before the leafhoppers came along? Because i know that when a plant is in poor health, they tend to attract more problems and i don't think the leafhoppers are the first to blame. Or is it those dreaded cyclamen mites? Some of my plants were really lush, with big leaves and vivid colouring and now a lot of them are dying :(

I'm posting a few more pics below for detail and comparison. I cross posted this on other forums because i need help immediately and i don't exactly know where to post it. This is my first time to encounter an infestation of this scale so please forgive my wordiness. I actually like insects and i would like to stick to "organic" means (no insecticides as much as possible). Please help!

-iane

1) Here you can see the delightful leafhoppers cuddling into the leaf axils. They hopped around when they saw my gloved hand/ tweezers coming and a couple of times, a few jumped right at my face and one actually bit me on the leg. Buggers. This plant has been reduced to a couple of leaves and i don't know if it's going to survive at all.
2) THAT EVIL WEEVIL
3) Leaf damage by... oh, i don't know anymore. I seem to have a composite of little monsters.
4)This one, i found clinging to the inner side of a pot. After the mishap with the weevil i chose to remove it. But i would still like to know, for future reference, if this is a beneficial insect or what.