Sounds like whitefly.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Different thread - same subject

Are these little things on the leaves, stems, or in the soil? Do they fly? If not, what about other methods of getting themselves from point A to point B?

Without a picture, we need just a bit more information from you, in the form of descriptions.

Sorry,

In their most recent incarnation I've only seen them on the leaves and stems of my Gynura, although I'm certain these are the same bugs that had previously infested my Ember Explosion pepper plant.

They don't appear to fly, if they do I've never seen them. I barely see them moving actually, unless I've just dislodged one from it's spot on my poor baby.

My gynura has some of it's leaves drying up and crinkled so it could either be because of them, or because I haven't been watering enough, I'm not certain.

Also, I have been having a slight problem with fruit flies *at least I hope they're fruit flies, I suppose it might be possible for them to be fungus gnats* so maybe it's larva or a pupa stage?

Perhaps the cast skins of aphids?

Any chance of pictures?

They're pretty small and I'm not sure that my camera is good enough but if they show up again I'll try.

I think I might have squished them all right now...

Syrinth..You'll know if they're whitefly by gently shaking the leaves..WF will take off, swirling around, then look for the nearest plant to land on.

They could be Mealybugs. Mealys are slow-moving, totally opposite of WF, and can be squished easily enough..
It seems Mealy are attracted to Gynura..it's been several years, but my last two Gynuras got tossed because both had mealy. That's one bug I can't tolerate.

Unless you have fruit sitting around, the tiny insects are probably Fungus Gnats. Are you allowing soil to dry between waterings? FG's thrive on wet soil and dry, stuffy air..perfect combos.

When a plant with FG's gets watered, they appear, crawling up and along soil..they're dark in color, have silvery hues.
Fruitflys are larger than FG's.
One more thing..you said you've been catching them manually..because whitefly are so fast, you wouldn't be able to catch them..unless you had the tongue of a reptile..lol. Toni

could be paricited aphids

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures

Paracitized?

sorry, bad cold, no brain cells which aren't swimming in mucus any more. Yes, rhizo that's what I meant.

When I think white, not moving much, small...I think mealy bugs of some kind. Might want to do a search on that and see if a picture of it seems similar. They are considered a common pest of gynura.

sounds like mealy bugs they are white the female are while the male a little black flies

hi, I just read this thread and I'd like to suggest the pest you have might be, cyclamen mite, I had this pest on my begonia-angel wing...it doesn't fly, and it like it has a white dust to it...they do look alot like aphid..
what I read to do was to put the plant in the shower on hot water(I thought that would kill the plant) so I used warm water and left it in the shower for 15 to 20 min..
I have not seen any bugs since...what I read was that no bug spray would kill the dang things...maybe this will help..I have another thread today I posted about bathing all my plants today...I think that helps keep bug away..
just suggesting..good luck...linda

It very well may have been that because that is exactly what I did because there were just so many of them and they're all gone now.

Umm. I seriously doubt you had cyclamen mite.

They're so very tiny that you need a good hand lens, at least 10 power, to see them. Further, they seldom go away on their own unless, of course, the plant dies.