my camera's not good enough! it seems like schmutz, like I don't look at it and think "that's a bug." there was a bunch of it on the rim of the pot that distinctly, like, crunched when I scraped at it. The spots on the leaf made me nervous when I bought the plant cuz it was whiter than salt is--

--but i sprayed it with insect soap and put it by itself in the bathroom and will keep an eye i guess? i get sooo paranoid about bugs spreading to all my plants!!

i bet if it is mealy bugs you got them! and i bet just mild soap didn't do it any harm. it may be salt or minerals or vermiculite. i had mealy bugs and they are not crunchy.

when you had them was it very obvious they were bugs? (Thank you for indulging my paranoia lol, for a dude with a house full of plants I am a weirdo about plant bugs, especially after trying to grow stuff on my fire escape one year got aphids *everywhere*)

totally understandable, i lost a plant i loved to mealy bugs! and i am currently trying to save a monstera from scales and afraid it will spread. but yes, when i had mealy bugs i could see their bodies pretty clearly. and they were soft and not gritty, for what it's worth.

Can confirm, the mealybugs I had on some mint I was growing were fuzzy and had a sort of sticky/gooey behavior when squashed or pinched off. Definitely not crunchy.