A further update: I'd speculated before that maybe some of what I was seeing might be another species of eriophyid that had blown in. The figs that I've found the last two mites on are right next to a little Asian pear orchard. Well, some of the pears are looking rough---so I took a microscope to them this evening. Found eriophyids on them, which I believe to be pear and/or apple rust mites. They seem stockier---more spindle-shaped---and faster moving than the fig mites I initially saw (which were indeed fig mites---because I observed them indoors at the end of winter/beginning of spring). Also a little larger---though still microscopic. These were more like the last two "fig" mites I saw.
And perhaps there's also another explanation for the sprinkling of "mite" spots I've seen recently on foliage? There's been a bumper crop of leafhoppers this season; and they've been all over my figs. Perhaps a leafhopper sucking on a very young leaf could produce a similar spot as the leaf grew?
Could it be that I was wringing my hands over nothing? Could it be that both spinosad and Forbid 4f work just fine against Aceria ficus?
I'm not certain---but I remain hopeful. I'll probably apply spinosad + adjuvant once more, wait a few days, then release one of the fig bud mite's natural enemies, the predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii. I've ordered a better microscope---one with which I can (hopefully) take pictures; so maybe I can visually document what I see (if anything) from here on out.
(Well, I'm certainly not the sort of guy you'd want running your rigorous scientific study, am I?)
I'm off to spray some pears, I guess!
Q
Putting Mix, Summer's
Q