I tried the water blasting last year on my peppers in desperation to control a bad aphid infestation and in hopes some natural predators would come along and take care of them instead of having to resort to any poisons. It did work to control the aphids but it required spraying almost every day for nearly three weeks before the aphids slacked off. I can't say for sure but I had the worst year of BLS on my peppers last year that I have ever had and by mid summer most were dead from it. This year I didn't spray my peppers with water but once or twice and instead went for a mild soapy water and Permethrin mix to control them. I waited til late in the day to use it but had to respray several times but got them under control and had almost no BLS this year and most of my peppers are still producing and looking fairly healthy. I don't know what I will do next year but would love a reprieve from the annual aphid invasion that hits my bells most years. Thankfully since going to the single stem and lean and lower system of supporting my tomatoes, aphids haven't been a problem on tomatoes. I sometimes find a few on one or two plants in late spring but they are easily controlled with just a little hand spraying on just those few plants.
I was able to save most of my plants from spider mites this year with my Permethrin, soapy water and DE spray alternating with a neem oil spray. Thankfully they weren't as bad as some years so I only lost a couple of plants. With decades of fighting mites I can usually spot them before they get too bad and act quickly to get them under control. I think spotting them early and getting started on controlling them as soon as possible is a big step in winning the war with mites.
Bill
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