Hi Steve,
Thanks so much for all your help (and the link). It'll be interesting to hear what Juan (the owner of the yard service) has to say this afternoon. He no doubt has better eyes that I do and might be able to see something I (and the photos) can't see. I haven't seen any insects (even with the loupe) recently and no bugs falling off when I tap on the plant over paper - but I trust your verdict on the russet mites and will keep spraying!
I did a more through assessment of my plants today and will probably keep some of the affected ones that seem to be recovering - just to see what happens with the new growth (in the meantime, I've started growing replacement plants for later). I'm especially curious to see if some of the suckers or new leaders coming out from the base of the plant develop normally.
Right now I think I'm OK for plants and seeds. Keeping some plants and filling in with backups (almost all new varieties) plus more control plants for grafts, I'll have filled up my 40 spots I planted about a month ago, plus about another 20 plants in a newly prepared bed. I think I lost about 20 varieties in this whole ordeal and now have seedlings started (some with true leaves) for all but a few of these. Will start a few more seeds today for the other varieties. I had been thinking about doing staggered plantings leading up to a fall crop anyway.
I'll let you know what Juan has to say.
Thanks again,
Anne