Question
Help please.  I have a few plants at work, a Croton from FL. a Plumaria, and a Poinsettia plant from a few years ago at work and I am in NC.  I brought the Croton and the Plumaria in for the winter, we have noticed that all of a sudden all of these plants have little white things on them and when we take the plants outside to shake them they are little white flying bug but they seem to land back on the plants.  How can I get rid of them. I plan on taking most of my plants home in the spring time, However don't want these in my house.  My plants love the florecent lighting at work and are growing like crazy even with this little bugs.  The bugs are starting to get to employess they fly everwhere.   They are nice and green, however I don't want them to dye.  Help please

Answer
Hi Teresa, thats the adult version of the "White Fly", it lays its eggs and the larvae do most of the damage to the plants; they are very difficult to eradicate, the plant needs to be sprayed down with either a Horticultural Oil or an insecticidal soap, this will control the larvae, but the adult will continue to lay eggs. Check the bottom of the leaves, the tiny dots you see, are the larvae that are sucking the juices from your plant, controlling them will deter most of the damage, but the adults feed too, just not as much and because they fly, are almost impossible to get rid of. I would suggest bringing the plants outside and letting them sit for awhile, any adults that remain inside flying around can be killed with an aerosol spray,then go out and flush all the adults off the plant and rush it inside before they can follow or land, then you need only deal with eradicating the larvae. Good luck, and google "White Fly" to get a better handle on what you are dealing with. Nick