A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Mystery white bugs, not mealybugs.

Hello!

I have dealt with and eradicated many pest issues including mealybugs, fungus gnats and spider mites. But this latest one has me baffled. They are small white relatively fast moving bugs. They are crawling on the plant, not in the soil. They can be seen with the naked eye without difficulty but they are quite small. I have looked at them through a standard magnifying glass, (my partner is bringing his super magnifying glass home from work today so that might give me more details). From what i can tell they could either be an aphid or a mite but I have sprayed and watered with neem multiple times and they were back the next day, I have sprayed and watered with tobacco tea which I usually save as a last resort, twice and they were back the same day, and the last thing I tried was spraying diluted rubbing alcohol. They were back the same day. They are only one one plant, a jade. I have no idea what to try now.

Alcohol works on mealy bugs, a tsp of dawn dish soap in water in a sprayer works on aphids.