My mom’s been complaining about something that keeps bothering her indoor potted poinsettia - it looks like white dust, but when you shake the plant the little things fly around and come back later. What are these buggers and how do we get rid of them?
More likely whitefly. [del]Mealybugs don’t fly[/del]. Males do fly. Sorry. So it could be either.
That’s a pretty vague description. “White dust?” I can’t think of any flying insect that is so small it could be literally mistaken for dust. Are the “little things fly around” the things that make up the dust, or do they come out of the dust, or what?
If they come out of the dust then you need to look at one and give us a description. From the description it could be whitefly, aphids, scale insects or several other possibilities. If you can give us eneough info to ID the buggers then we can recommend a speficic treatment that is more likely to work.
If you just want to treat regardless of the cause, then your best bet is to get some Imadocloprid insecticide, Confidor is the most common brand, but there are identical generics that are much cheaper and work just as well. Read the label carefully, use as directed, wear gloves and any other safety equipment recommended. Take particular nore to re-treat as directed, usually you will need to treat every 2-4 weeks for several months to kill all the larvae as they hatch.
Just be aware that most of these pests have evolved a wide spectrum resistance, so it may not work. If it doesn’t then get some Bifenthrin based pesticide. There are any number of varieties of that on the market. And if they are resistant to Bifenthrin and Imadocloprid then they are probably resistant to everything and you are reduced to mechanical control, and then you really do need to identify what beastie you are dealing with.
They’re just tiny white specks. A little bigger than a speck of dust. At first glance it looks like dust on the leaves but when you tap the plant they all fly up. I’ll try to get a picture up.
That’s got to be Whiteflies. Imidacloprid, as mentioned above is your best bet. Low toxicity and still effective against most Whiteflies.
Thanks! I hope they sell the stuff in Korea. 
people also use soap spray or yellow sticky traps.