Northerner,

"...is there any insect that sticky sticks do not attract?"

Thrips would be one possibility.

"I do have something stronger, but I cannot easily use it on seedlings because it has to be sprayed in an open area."

You could temporarily move your plants to an open area, spray them, and bring them back.

"They were not whitefly because they did not move when touched."

That eliminates thrips. They are highly mobile. Perhaps some kind of aphids?

"It is soon time for me to start my pepper seedlings for this season and I want to be rid of this 'thing'. Any ideas from anyone?"

Well, the decoy plants are now part of the problem, and not part of the solution. For ornamentals I would use a systemic soil drench, but you don't want to use systemics on edibles. You could poison yourself or others.

Thrips pupate in the soil, and some other pests might do so as well, so you should discard not just the infested plants, but their growing medium as well. And by discard, I mean absolutely remove. You could send it all off to the city dump in a plastic bag. Or chuck it into a roaring fire in the fireplace.

I am concerned that we don't have a positive identification for the problem. I'm not sure this is even an insect. This would be a good time for some good macrophotography. Or search Google Images for a picture somebody else has taken of the same thing, like these pictures of aphids.

ZM

Northerner,

"...and installed Safer's Sticky Sticks in all of the pots in my house. So far, after several weeks, there is nothing but a few fungus gnats on the sticky sticks, but the decoy plants continue to be attacked..."

In my experience, sticky sticks and other sticky traps are good for catching and identifying pests, but not for controlling them. I use fly swatters, and not fly paper.

"On looking at the back of the leaves, I see very small grey coloured 'things', little white spots, and generally unhealthy plants."

I suspect that the immobile grey things are aphids and the white spots are their shed skins. With respect to the Google pictures, you can link them for display here, like this:

{{gwi:1144594}}
You can see some white shed skins in that photograph. That picture is highly magnified. Aphids are small, and baby aphids are smaller yet. As they grow, they shed their skins. And they come in various colors, including grey.

For the article in which that picture appeared, see this article on the Soybean Aphid. I'm not saying that your aphids are Soybean Aphids, because there are many species of aphids. Your pest might be one of those species. But, as I said before, we haven't identified your pest yet. Although, right now, my "likely suspect" is some kind of aphid.

ZM

Hello Zenman: Always a pleasure to talk to you. Thanks for all those lovely pics. of aphids. I have had them before but did not appreciate the variety of colours they display. You made some very valuble points, and I would like to give you a little background. I have just a few houseplants which I do not take outside and which are not showing any ill effects: a hibiscus, a spike plant, crium, an asparagus fern, and another vareigated vine. There is one small pot which contained the mandevilla which grew on the deck during the summer but it has been killed. I retained it because I believed the use of the sticky sticks was to kill the offenders. Therefore I put a bean plant in that pot, it has grown, and is really suffering: curling leaves, yellowing, and generally keeling over. The two primulas which I bought a few weeks ago are already toast - probaby because of their soft stems which can be so easily pierced and adhered to. The other decoy plants are in sterilized pots in sterile growing medium, but they are all infected.

From the information you provided and thinking things over, I do believe that the present infestation is different from that which ailed the large pepper plant. I had brought in two small pots of pepper plants (a friend was to pick them up), which all died without any evidence of the 'dandruff-like' deposits. So perhaps there were aphids at work then. Is it possible that the large plants are infected, but are too strong to show damage?

The reason I can't take the seedlings outdoors to spray them is that they are edibles, and I live in a climate which is still very cold at that time. Any exposure would kill them off immediately. It's also quite a hassle as they are in large, ungainly trays uder lights.

So perhaps my next step should be to get ride of the pot which contied the Mandevilla and all the decoys and hope for the best. In pior infestations of aphids they were white and clearly visible.

I do agree that this is a rather unscientific way of going about things, having not identified the offender, but I am really taking the easy way out. Maybe I should invest in a top quality camera and get some good photos.- I just have the basic digital camera.

Thanks again for the input. I'll see how things go. But I'll hang on to the primulas for a bit longer - I purchased them from Home Depot!!!
ortherner

Two things to try even if the problem is not identified would be a sharp spray of water over the leaves to try and knock the problem causers off the plants, and if that does not help sprays of insecticidal soaps. Neither of these are harmful to you and can be used on edibles. I do not know if the people at AgCanada will be of any assistance but you could inquire.

Neem works great on aphids and other pests and doesn't poison your plants or the environment. It can be used inside and on all plants. Some neem products stink but the Green Light product smells like oranges.

Northerner,

"Is it possible that the large plants are infected, but are too strong to show damage?"

Yes. But aphids are visible to the naked eye, and a close inspection of those plants should find any aphid colonies. Obviously a single aphid could escape detection, and it could lay eggs to start a colony.

"From the information you provided and thinking things over, I do believe that the present infestation is different from that which ailed the large pepper plant."

It could be that more than one pest is involved here. It is hard to know what caused those two small pots of pepper plants to die. Perhaps their roots were physically damaged. Possibly a bacterial disease or a fungal disease or possibly even an invasion by nematodes.

"The reason I can't take the seedlings outdoors to spray them is that they are edibles, and I live in a climate which is still very cold at that time. Any exposure would kill them off immediately. It's also quite a hassle as they are in large, ungainly trays under lights."

I understand. It can be so cold outside that even a few seconds of exposure could kill small seedlings. I use rigid 11x22 PermaNest trays which are fairly portable, although they can be a handful when loaded with large seedlings in 3-inch square pots. I have been in that same situation, where I needed to spray some plants, but it was too cold to take them outside. I tried various workarounds, but none were too successful. Dabbing aphids with an alcohol-soaked cotton swab kills them, but damages the plant. I had a small hand-held computer keyboard vacuum cleaner that I used to suck up aphids from stems and leaves, but that was tedious and never got them all.

For my zinnias, which are non-edible, I use a systemic drench. It is taken up by the plant roots to make the plant's sap toxic to any pests, and protects the new growth as well. Sprays don't protect new growth. The drench does need to be re-applied every few weeks. But, as I mentioned before, a systemic drench is not usable for edibles.

"So perhaps my next step should be to get rid of the pot which contained the Mandevilla and all the decoys and hope for the best. In prior infestations of aphids they were white and clearly visible."

Sounds like a plan. Full speed ahead. Watch for aphids and Damping Off.

"Maybe I should invest in a top quality camera and get some good photos.- I just have the basic digital camera."

I have been meaning to do the same thing for the last few years. Maybe this will be the year. Some insect pictures can be sort of artistic. Good luck with your seedlings. And keep us posted if you seem to be having any problems with them.

ZM

Any digital camera with a Micro or Macro setting should be good enough.
I'm including this link not because I think you have mites but to show pictures I took with a digital camera I got new for $50 on ebay.

Here is a link that might be useful: does this sound like spider mites?

Taz,

That is very impressive work with your inexpensive digital camera. Your most magnified view was a little pixelated, and you can improve that somewhat in the way you upsample the picture, as in this crop from your picture:

ZM

It's a pentax optio S45. Reviews were terrible but I'm happy with the results. The only problem is battery life but a few NiCa batteries and a charger took care of that issue.
Here's a picture of a spittle bug and a mealybug predator.

The most important things are having a steady hand and lighting. The mealybug predator's a little bleached out from the flash but the spittle bug was taken in natural light.