Dave Sorry to hear about the mite damage. I use neem oil and/or horticultural oil in a gallon sprayer . Both are pretty much organic and work by smothering. I use these as a defense against aphids which is the most destructive insect I have in my garden.

Personally I kind of thought the reason most sites say to discard the plant is their way of trying to contain/control the spread. Totally just my thoughts on it, but it makes sense to me if a person isn't going to stay on top of or treat the plant as necessary then the pest, will spread or worse if not treated properly like most pest become a super mutation that is not controlled through current methods. Anyway I probably shouldn't share my theories until I have facts, and all I know is animals. One more opinion these guys are not necessarily deemed beautiful by the average person, it is a beauty is in the eye of the beholder kinda plant! Only its owner could love it! Now that I have one I feel safe saying that ;) lol! I know you love your mesembs and I am guessing you don't truly want to dump him! I agree with the others give him a gangster name and enjoy please don't ever think that I am feeling knowledgeable I just enjoy conversations that don't involve Disney or toys ;) I crave conversations with others unrelated to Mickey or Frozen! Hope to see "Capone or Scarface" around a few months from now. Also hope my humor translates. Blessings

I am trying to revive a damaged pepper plant. Its in a small pot and has 2 jalapenos growing. The spider mites damaged it enough to look like it has severe underwatering damage. The plant is under a foot tall. Could I prune back everything to make it look like a Y with no leaves to help it restart with healthy leaves? So far I washed the whole plant under the sinks to get rid of most of the spider mites

I don’t have a loup so I haven’t been able to observe closely, but I did try and brush the leaves to see if I could wipe anything off, since I was able to wipe off what I think were mites on my Carambola. The red spots seem to be part of the plant are weren’t able to be wiped off. I checked under the leaves and while they were present there, they weren’t there in as large of quantities as the top.