I agree. Isolate the plant, ditch the medium, or cook it in the oven. Wash the plant (I have used liquid dish detergent and temperate water) and treat. Don't be shy about submerging the plant for awhile as drowning is a great cure. Do not re-pot yet. Place in a pre-soaked terracotta pot with NO medium to harbor the boogers, the smallest that will fit the plant, so that the roots are bumping against walls...and then place on pebbles with water. The clay should barely make contact with the water (to give off humidity). Spray x2 daily. You can put your regular fert in your spray bottle. Keep up the water level in the pebble tray so that the clay breathes water but no water should be in the pot. You may ask, "Why not just put the pot in water" Well, my unscientific, experiential answer is that the pebble tray enhances the general humidity around the plant. I could be wrong here. Anyway, treat the plant one, or better, two more times over the course of 10-14 days. Repeat the soap treatment too and wash your pebbles and pot with soap and hot water. Since your plant will be out of medium for a few weeks pay attention to keeping the terracotta moist and the humidity up. I would assume the violets have them (if they were not the source). They cannot handle the same tx (treatment). That's more complicated. Don't toss your old friend. She sounds worth saving.

thanks. rhizo_1 i think thats it. springtails! they are on the soil... on the edge of the mulch/lawn. i looked them up online and they sound just like what i saw. i think i have the globular kind... they hop like tiny fleas. apparently they are harmless. thanks very much! julie

They're not a problem. Allow the potting mix to dry off a bit. A general guideline: Plant pests move slowly whereas predators move rapidly.

I think its white fly. I have had both. Thrips tend to hide in the flowers and buds that's what makes them so hard to kill. They bred in the ground under the rose and can also swarm. If they are thrips its not any kind I have ever seen. White fly on the other hand doesn't care where they land or live and Malathion will take care of them. If it was me I would rather have white fly. Also I have found that malathion will not kill thrips. Soil drench with systemic or systemic granules will work. The rose takes it into the canes etc. Thrips prefer light colored roses. To find thrips take a rose that is just beginning to open and knock it on a piece of white paper if you have thrips you will see very small little brownish critters. Like a small pencil mark. I still think its white fly.