White frothy stuff (and bugs) on olive tree

[olderthanyouthink]

I have a potted olive tree indoors (I know it's not really an indoor plant and I don't expect it to live forever) when we got it -last summer- we ended up with loads of little bugs in the room where the plant is and there was this white foamy stuff on it and load of little bugs (didn't see them when we bought the plant) I thought I'd got rid of the problem by hosing the tree down and spraying it with washing up liquid and water several times

Eventually almost all the leaves fell off but this might have been underwatering but it has rallied in the last few weeks and has new growth buuuuut the frothy white stuff is back

How do I deal with this?

It's a bit hard to tell from your pic but is it Spittlebug froth like this?

Is it fluffy stuff like cotton wool?

It doesn't look like spittlebug. Yeah, it's more like cotton wool and it's sticky.

I tried to get better photos but camera was struggling to focus on it and I'm sort of trapped under a poorly baby.

it might be mealybug, I had this on a Jade plant. I used a cotton bud dipped in diluted alcohol and painstakingly 'washed' the fluffy stuff off. Heres a link
www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/houseplant-pests/mealybug-control/

Ooh. I have cotton wool type stuff in the crevices of my apple tree in the garden but have never found out what it was (usually turns up in spring) so watching here now with interest!

Yours is probably woolly aphid TheRhythmlessMan, they are a pest on apple trees.

Oh thanks Nan! Will look into it (hoping it's not a serious issue?)

I vote mealy bug:

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=201

I had it on an indoor plant, took a lot of fussing and constant attention to get it back to normal.

I'm not absolutely sure but I think woolly aphids only affect fruit trees?

I'll give the cotton bud and alcohol a go (have that stuff anyway)

Ironically those links mention ladybirds eating them and and we and tonnes of the bloody things living in our flat.