The brilliant green beetles are "fig beetles" ... native SW species. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figeater_beetle And yes, that OMGITSBIG!!!!! wasp thingy is a cicada killer. Impressively huge, but single-minded about hunting and hauling cicadas back to their nests. they are not likely to sting unless you grab it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphecius_grandis

This is my firs posting and I can see this is an old discussion but will try. I am also fighting the yellow bugs on my hoya. My fault for keeping it outside whjile we were living in a rental while we built a new house. My hoya is large and old. I started it from one leaf from my mother-in-law almost 40 years ago. It has never had bugs until a year ago. I have been fighting these yellow bugs on the new growth for the past year. I am going to try the alcohol treatment with water bath (insecticidal soap did not work in long term). I see that Amazon has Bayer Tree & Schrub on its website but it also has an Bayer insectide for aphids etc. Has anyone tried that?

I'm aware that the flys do no damage, just a irritant. I'm also well aware of the over watering problem. But the larva eat organic matter, sometimes the roots of tender seedlings. Damping off is a problem with lots of seedlings but not so much with palms. When I check the dead seedlings, you can see where the tap root has been chewed, the larva are visible with a magnifying glass. I found an article somewhere that said palm seedlings are paticularily vunerable for some reason. We have allowed the soil to dry out to the point of almost death in an effort to control them. I've done my research, there are beneficial mites and nematodes that I've experimented with. For the moment we seem to have it under control. My point was that the purchased soil booster came heavily infested, and then spread to all our other indoor plants. It can happen. We keep the sticky yellow strips about, just to monitor them, I only use soiless mix such as promix or sunshine mix and no longer add anything. I haven't tried ammonia, I'll have to pick some up. I have found on this forum that I'm not alone, especially with the Moso bamboo seedlings.

What I meant and maybe did not communicate clearly enough was that the "brand" of plants was fine and that buying a different "brand" would not make any difference if using the same sort of soil/potting mix. The outcome would be the same. I am not an idiot - of course the current plants are toast and should just be thrown out!! I am a very experienced gardener and grow extensively in containers as well as teaching classes on container gardening. I am actually a professional gardener/designer with a degree in horticulture! For a rosemary, you do not want ANY sort of peat based potting soil. And never include any compost in a potting/container mix. What you want is a very durable, highly textured and fast draining soil, which negates the inclusion of anything like finely textured peat or any other readily degradable organic matter. Something more like a cactus mix or what they discuss frequently on the Container Gardening forum as 'gritty mix'.