Cactus Mealy Bug

I'm having problems with mealy bugs on my coleus inside under lights. I think part of the problem is that they are too crowded and maybe I over water. I had to throw out one plant where they kept coming back even after about 5 treatments. I swab them with q tip dipped in alcohol then spray with insecticidial soap, but I may need to start doing something more drastic if they persist. I think you can only readily see the females. The males are not white and I think they look like gnats.

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I have been using only alcohol to get rid of the mealys when I see them, I have not used any other insecticides as the plants are in my house and I have cats who are very sensitive to poisons. I would like suggestions as to how to rid the mealys from my affected plants. The Hoya is a vine (about 20+ft. long which curls around many times on a trellis and cannot be moved out of its area. The bug starts as a small white fuzz about 1/4 in, I think it is an egg mass, Under the white mass are many mm long oval, orange colored soft bodied slow moving many legged insects. Although I have never seen the hatching, this sequence appears often so I deduct these sequences. I hope someone can give me some suggestions on how to get rid of... read more this pest...thanks.

I do not know for certain that this is the cactus mealy bug, but it resembles the picture found on this web site to a "T". They are on my lemons from my lemon tree. When I first noticed them (by pulling off a fruit that was infected --mushy yuch!) I thought they were come kind of scale because they were lined up in rows overlapping each other. Then my grandson put one under his microscope and we realized that they were bugs! I am going to try the insecticidal soap remedies first.. then if need be the commercial products. My lemon tree is approximately 60 years old and is still giving lemons all of the time. When my Dad was alive, that darn tree gave up 1 to 2 lb lemons all year round, now I get big lemons all year round, but not that big!