ok a new development - i'd checked for bugs a ton of times before, flipping over all of the leaves and examining closely, but now if i shake up the pot a little then tiny little white crawly bugs come up and crawl around the top of the soil. no bugs at all on the actual plant - but i'm thinking they're probably eating at the roots. if i sit there and really look hard i can tell there's probably a huge number of them altogether, tho i can only spot a couple at a time.
no useful picture because they're so, so small - tiny white/light colored crawling bugs with some antennae a little larger than their legs. body the size of a grain of sand, tiny >< to the best of my ability i'd think they're hypoaspis miles but apparently those are good bugs? could they be bad if there's too many? could they be something else?
there's nothing on the plants themselves, no signs on the leaves on top or bottom, no eggs anywhere, no webs, no nothing. just a bunch of bugs right under the soil.
i put a layer of diatomaceous earth on the soil as it's all i had on hand but can grab supplies.