Garden Pests and Diseases: What is this? Friend of Foe?, 1 by at1a5

at1a5 wrote:
I confess my ignorance before diving into this. I'm not only new to growing houseplants, but also new to this climate here in the Portland, Oregon area. What is this in my photo? I can best describe it as little white/cream colored balls clumped together with what seems to be some kind of white cotton-like material. Very small in size. I've seen these every once in a while on the surface of some of my house plants since moving here, and I have even discovered awhile back a great deal of them deep in the soil of a potted plant which I tossed, so I know it's not just a surface thing.

As a background to my bad habits, I know and am now fighting the battle to recovering from over-watering my plants, so I can't help but wonder if this is some kind of mold or fungus. Yet, also nagging me in the back of my head is the idea that these could be some kind of eggs of some pest. The only pests I've seen during our first six months here are mealybugs which were exclusively on only one plant which is on the other side of the apartment. Ants, which have come and gone. A small, small outbreak of spider-mites but again only on one houseplant which was/is at the other side of the apartment. And finally, I've always had a small but noticeable presence of small black gnat-like flies. They haven't been to bothersome and not too great in numbers so I haven't worried about them too much yet. I wouldn't mind though knowing what these gnats are, how harmful they are and how I might get rid of them. There is a possible correlation here as these gnat-like flies do tend to be found in the area where the houseplant in my photo is located. Maybe I'll get a pick of one the gnats and post it.

Any ideas? If more info is needed, just post the question and I'll answer it. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Jake