Care guide for Coleus

[mahmood]

I have a coleus since the second of October (about 22 day ago). I tried to care it with sun and water feeds. You can see it in the following pictures. Please let me know, if it is healthy or not? what should I do for it? Some big leaves fell down in recent days, but I can see some very small ones are growing. Is the color of leaves OK?

http://pasteboard.co/iTc4BCSnf.jpg

http://pasteboard.co/iTcFNyauH.jpg

http://pasteboard.co/iTdlxSZG8.jpg

http://pasteboard.co/iTeA0sIIx.jpg


Do you know what are the white spots on stem as below:

http://pasteboard.co/iTaYO3hyM.jpg

http://pasteboard.co/iTe409tc0.jpg

 

[Beth_B]

Welcome.
Your coleus looks ok for now but those white spots could be mealybugs, which may eventually kill it if you don't start a regime of cleaning off your plant with soapy water.

Or it's powdery mildew, often caused by high humidity and over-watering. Most houseplants benefit from less water, not more...

 

[DrCase]

I never had one in a pot . The ones I grow in the ground want good bright morning sun

 

[mahmood]

Currently, I spill little water in the morning (about 7AM) and evening (7PM) to moisturize the soil and not overloading it with water.
Do you know how many CC it needs a day?

 

[Beth_B]

I suppose the amount depends on the pot size, type of soil, etc.

I've always had good luck with houseplants watering them only when the soil is pretty dried out. So once every 1-2 weeks. In general less frequent deep watering encourages strong roots. Watering a little twice a day seems like way too much. Most plants suffer if the soil is kept constantly wet. Coleus is tropical and may need more frequent watering but unless it's extremely dry and windy where you are, I think you should water a little less frequently.

 

[mahmood]

It seems that the mealybug is becoming a problem!
I sprayed water with soap on the leaves and stems. The number of white spots are becoming larger. I didn't spray a lot. I want to know isn't the "soap" harmful for the soil, stem and leaves?

I will post a picture later. Please let me know your opinion

 

[Beth_B]

Soapy water generally won't harm your plants...that's assuming your locally available soap is fairly benign and ph-neutral!

Most is so I'm sure you are fine. Just keep at it, mealybugs are tenacious so it may take you a week or three to get rid of them.

 

[mahmood]

How Often should I spray with soap? I mean once a day right now because of their population and then reduce it to once a week?

Also, do you agree with available dish washer liquids?

 

[Beth_B]

If you can get original Dawn brand dish soap I'd use that...(it's the brand typically used for cleaning birds fouled in oily water, cleaning baby animals to rid them of fleas etc) presumably because it's relatively free of harmful dyes and fragrance. But I imagine any mild type soap would work without harming your plant.

Another option I just thought of...Neem oil. Google neem oil for mealybugs...it's an organic pesticide, safe for use inside and around pets etc...and apparently very effective for mealybugs. I use it on my outdoor veg plants when I need to control harmful bugs.

 

[mahmood]

Today is the second day that I am spraying with soap. See its picture and compare it to the images in the first post

http://pasteboard.co/kSq2y2yH2.jpg

With the flash light, the stem looks like

http://pasteboard.co/kSt9nL6XO.jpg

 

[LouisFerdinand]