I thought I was dealing with aphids (on a Mandevilla vine) but after a dose of insecticidal soap and then Sevin, they seem to be still going strong. I will try to wash off with hose water shortly, but is there a product for whatever this is? pic attached

They are aphids. They increase rapidly because much of the time they reproduce by live birth rather than eggs. You'll need to keep spraying with insecticidal soap at intervals. Carbaryl (Sevin) doesn't work reliably for aphids and has even been found to increase them. Another option is to blast them off with as strong a spray of water as you can use without damaging the plant - again you'll likely have to repeat at intervals. For something systemic since you don't mind using "chemicals" you could consider the systemic insecticide Orthene.

thanks, i've nixed the sevin. using various soaps now at intervals. seems to work fine.

They love mandavella...found these just the other day.

Hi just found on a maple tree... on the stem of a couple branches just overing like shingles on a house. from a short distance they look like a lavender fuzzy layer compleetly encircling the small branch. upon close look i can distinguish individual crawling but stationary bugs like aphids in the clumping... but make me think of armadillos in their lavender fuz. when I blew on them they stuck out the cottony lavender fluff more. I a hoping these are not bag wrom babies.... I'll try for a photo tomorrow. I ran my fingers down a branch before I realized its "bugs" and it turned my skin orange... no smell.

Cottony maple scale?

https://www.google.ca/search?q...