Jean001, Thank you for responding. After reading your reply I checked out a few sites dealing with Thrips. Based on my reading, I think you are bang on with your ID. One greenhouse management site stated that they typically attack pepper plants starting on top leafs and new growth. It also stated they typically attack tomato plants from the bottom leaves and work up. Bingo, this is exactly what IÂm seeing. (I stated in my original posts on the other forum that they didnÂt seem interested in my tomato plants but this morning I find that I was mistaken. On closer inspection, they have started to attack leaves on bottom branches) IÂll continue to apply Neem oil with a dose of insecticidal soap to try to get things under control before I resort to harsher measures. They will also begin living outside fulltime today. Knowing your enemy is 99% of the battle. Thanks again for your help! Bill

I've always considered Pseudococcidae to be scale insects, mostly because of an old Irish gardener I worked for, who called them "Soft Scale." I also see many citations in Google which consider them to be scale. Wikipedia: "Mealybug is the common name of insects in Pseudococcidae, a family of unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm climates." IPM of Alaska: "Mealybugs are part of the insect families collectively known as scale insects." Columbia Encyclopedia: "..common name for certain unarmored scale insects that exude a granular white secretion, giving them a mealy appearance." It seems the more I learn, the less I know.

Yes, those are most definitely thrips and it is best to treat all of your houseplants for them. Even if you haven't seen them on the other plants, treating them all for the pests will prevent a rebound outbreak.

Using rubbing alcohol mixed 50/50 on any bugs on succulents and other plants, without adding any soap (soap will dissolve wax on leaves unless it is vegetable-based, like Castile soap. It may not cause much damage if using seldom, but if bugs persist it could be too much. I know it is recommended to improve 'stickiness' of the spray). No problem with any damage to leaves, as long as you don't spray in hot sun. After it dries (quite fast) it is OK to put plants back. So far, I didn't use anything else for bugs. Works well on mealy bugs, scale and many others. Aphids could be 'washed off' with stiff spray of water unless large contamination (and if impossible to do it inside).