I tried predator mites.
I put enough for 1/4 or 1/8th acre on my 200 pots.
They can't keep up with the broad mites once they are established.
Seems the predators are also heat and humidity sensitive,more so than other mites.
I hear you can't use them in a greenhouse in the summer( heard that from commercial growers here in Ca.).
Seems the same critters that like spider and broad mites like the predators better.
Lacewing Larva seemed to be the best for about ANY nasty that comes in my garden.
I found wasps,Nematodes and lacewings are the best thing to use.
I tried EVERYTHING known to man poison wise(from natural to systemics) on mites.
Heck,birds would fall out of the sky if they flew over my garden the poisons fumes were so bad. LOL
Lacewings and a fungal with 12%+ of sulfur work to keep my garden somewhat cool.
I haven't seen an aphid in a few years thanks to the wasps and I see a lot of Syrphid flies around too(look like mini bees but aren't striped the same).They have a line connecting the stripes of black.
The flie eats pollon but the larva eats ANY soft bodied critter on the plant.
I see the larva cruising around my plants from time to time.
They make a cacoon that looks like a mini butterfly cacoon.
I just need to find a bio cure for crickets and grasshoppers.
The only stuff I found comes in large bags and has a VERY short shelf life.Expensive too.
I need a critter that likes them.
My place is cricket heaven...
They love chewing the outside green bark off my plants and pod stems.
IF they find a small enough start they chop it down like a beaver drops a tree.
Fixed the Japanese beatle larva with nematodes and a mix of BT and Mosquito dunks.
I've only seen a couple moon craters in my pots this year where the grub came out or the adult dug in to lay eggs.
At one time I'd see a plant fall over all of a sudden with no roots left from the grubs.
Not lately.
A LOT of the good bugs find other places to go when your plants run out of stuff for them to eat BUT they come back when there are more things to eat.
I work nights,I have a semi controlled population of broad mites.
I see TONS of lacewing eggs all over the place and lots of adults flying around too.
I don't think the mites have a chance this year.
Screw poison.
Use sulfur and release the hounds. LOL
I think I did more damage every time I used even natural poisons than if I let my good guys do their thing.
Once the good guys get established they stay in the area,wether you see them or not.They follow the food and are VERY good at their job.
One mistake I did was introduce Mantis in my garden.
THEY EAT EVERYTHING AND ARE TERRITORIAL.
They ate my other good guys.
They don't eat mites when a fat juicey lacewing larva is there too.
Every time I saw a Mantis I brought it to plants far away from my garden for 2 seasons before I only had a couple here and there.
One mantis eats a lot less than a dozen lacewing larva,wasps or syrphid flies.
I'm sure lacewing larva eat a lot of syrphid fly larva but not like mantis do.
I think mantis go after anything in their territory that eats THEIR food.
They end up eating good guys and are too full to eat the nasty guys.
I think protecting their territory is more important to them than eating mite,aphids or whatever.If you have a lot of bigger bugs that are benificial,why eat other stuff that is smaller.
PS.
Ladybug larva can't come close to lacewing larva for chowing down on anything in the garden.They are snacks for Lacewing larva.
Lacewing larva are eating machines.
If they can catch it they eat it.
I've seen ladybug larva sitting around belching and farting with a full stomache with aphids walking on them.
A lacewing larva would find room for 1 more or just kill it for being stupid enough to come even close to it.
They are also called ant lions.They dig funnel shaped pits around ant trails and nests.Ants check in but don't check out.
Google it if you don't believe me.
Only thing is that adult lacewing have to eat pollen to lay eggs.
But I have a lemmon hedge that takes care of that if my peppers aren't budding and McD next door has tons of flowers.
As a side note,I released a whole container of predator mites indoors but they couldn't keep up with the spider mites.
I actually thaught about breeding the spiders for a flea circus to at least get something out of raising the bastards.
Then I thaught about breeding them for size as a crap substitute.
Indoors clearing out my shelves solved the problem.
Outside sulfur and lacewings got rid of the spider mites pretty fast but broad mites are still around.
Sulfur and my good guys keep them on only 1 or 2 plants BUT I spray everything with Safer Garden fungacide concentrate.
12% sulfur
16oz. bottle was $12,+
Makes about 8gal. of spray.
A quart of the same stuff ready to use was a buck more.
Bayer makes the same stuff(3 in 1) but they didn't have it in a concentrate.
Another company makes another 3in1 that is neem,sulfur and soap but the nursery changes stuff all the time and didn't have whatever it was I bought before.
I spent an hour looking today.
I guess I should have written down the nome etc before I tossed out the container.They would have ordered it for me.A bag of peppers or smoked manzano powder goes a long way there.
Guy is going to find me some wetable sulfur.
Gave him a small zip worth of Safi red and surinam habs,a few Kalia mirch and a few Chile Pajarito,Rammelette and chiquito peppers.Added a taste of smoked Manzano powder.
The guy didn't know how to act.
They like this aging,bearded,long haired Chile Freak over there sometimes. LOL
Hell,I bank there...