White Worms on my Bougainvillea!

I found something very disturbing on my bougainvillea this morning...white worms.  I'm sure they weren't there yesterday and this morning they were everywhere.  At first I panicked and cut off the branch I found them on.  Upon closer inspection I realized that they weren't just on the one branch, but throughout the plant.  I had a full scale insect invasion on my hands in the course of one day.

 One of the things I find most puzzling about this is that my balcony garden is entirely screened in.  This gives me the advantage of not falling victim to the usual pests.  The attack came from inside.  I did a little research and found that bougainvillea are very pest resilient.  In fact, the only pest bougainvillea commonly fall victim to are insect larvae.  One of the most common insect larvae that materializes in the form a small white worm is fungus gnat larvae.  Ah-ha!  Those @!?# fungus gnats that arrived on my greek oregano appear to have launched a second wave of attack on my balcony garden.

The fungus gnats arrived on a greek oregano plant I purchased from a nursery and I have been trying to eradicate them ever since.  I was told that these gnats need moist soil to survive, so the obvious solution was to stop watering.  Of course the other thing that needs wet soil to survive is my plants, causing a paradox.  The self imposed drought made many of plants wilt, but the fungus gnats persisted.  They didn't seem to be eating any of the plant leaves and their numbers seemed to be declining.  In the end, I decided I could live with a few gnats.  This was an error.

The fungus gnats appeared to have laid insect larvae on my bougainvillea and now the white worms are attacking my bougainvillea.  This means war!  The easiest and most environmentally friendly solution is a homemade insecticidal soap.  Mix 1-1/2 teaspoons of Dawn detergent with 1 quart water.  It is important to use the purest water possible.  Hard water will reduce the effectiveness of this mixture.  spray the solution on the leaves of your infected plant.  This is best to do in the shade or late afternoon, as the sun can scorch freshly sprayed leaves.  I've been told that this solution works well on soft bodied pests, though it may require multiple applications.  I sprayed both bougainvillea this morning and will continue to apply until my gnat larvae have been eradicated.

Clearly leaving the fungus gnats in the garden was a mistake.  I will research ways to get rid of them that don't include parching my plants.  I hate to use harsh chemicals on my herb garden, because I eat these.  If you have any ideas, let me know.