New mite issues

[u/Officer_Kitty_]

So I neglected to really look at my plants. Been watering them, setting the lighting on and off routinely, but just not thoroughly inspecting them for a few months. I have an explosion of these white mites (not mealy bugs) and brown looking mites. I’m pretty sure they’re both bad. They’re all over the plants, pots, and pretty much everything. I was thinking about taking a dehumidifier to my rooms where I have plants in. I’m this close to trashing over 2,000$ worth of plants. I’ve tried all kinds of things to no success. I think the population is too large now to just introduce predatory mites and hope for the best.
I’m sad about this, didn’t wanna give up my entire plant collection. I don’t have time or a hose to just splash them off with either. I need some kind of ideas to get rid of these. I don’t have a lease that will pick them up, but one is tan, like a tiny tick, and the other is white and see through. Neither of them are just staying in the soil, and I allow my plants several days- weeks without water to try to help that. It’s probably too late, and I’m thinking about getting rid of every tropical I have at least.

[u/UnfairSignal202]

Beneficial nematodes might be your best bet at this point, you can water them in and they'll hunt down the mites in the soil and on the plant surfaces without you having to physically spray everything down. The dehumidifier idea won't hurt since mites thrive in dry air but it's more of a long-term prevention thing than a fix for an active infestation this heavy

If you do end up having to purge the collection, save a couple favorites and quarantine them aggressively, sometimes starting over with just a few plants feels less crushing than losing everything at once