Washing and insecticide soap is about the only natural way to do it aside from sticky traps (which are better for monitoring and poor for eradicating white fly) and vacuuming (which can be hard because they tend to fly away at any plant disturbance). Check for eggs (small, yellow cones) and larval nymphs (flat white/clear scale looking things) which you can remove before they become flies. The problem with controlling white fly with any means is they're one of the most spazz'd out pests around...you could touch the bottom of a plant and white flies that are on top of the plant opposite of where you touch will scatter. It's hard to spray them when they scatter at the first disturbance to the plant. Also, if you're going to use Malathion for indoor plants, you might want to apply it outside and leave outside for a few hours (or more) before bringing the plants back inside.

Looks like a fungus gnat to me. They are about the same size as fruit flies but they look different if you study them close up. I don't think they do much good for bananas but they don't harm them either. They lay eggs in the soil and their larvae eat fungus. The larvae can also eat some small roots, usually not enough to do any damage bananas but they can kill some small seedlings of other plants. The larvae only live in the top level of the soil and needs humidity so trying to keep the top of the soil dry limits their number. Spreading some sand on top of the soil also seems to work well.

I apprecite the thoughts. What can I say? I can't wing Tex-Mex very well (grin!). Gotta step out sometime; I'll get the hange of it. Three things on the recipe you linked Ann, jalapeno (I'd already leaned towards this sub) instead of bell (another sweet ingredient, right?), cilantro, and lime juice. Actually, it makes total sense. That's as Tex-Mex as it comes. I left off the most important signature ingredients. Big duh on my part! HA! Now if I just had a fresh lime juice margarita I could get started...

Yep bad infestation of aphids. Don't wait for the soap stuff. All you have to do is just wash them off with a good stream of water and your fingers. Some use the hose, some a spray bottle set on 'Stream'. It needs some pressure behind it but not enough to damage the leaves. Do it for about 3 days in a row to get them under control. Dave