The bigger mites you are likely to see running around with your naked eye probably aren't spider mites. The "bad mites" are very small, and best viewed with a loupe. I've heard that they might be predatory mites, a good thing to have around, but I'm not positive.
Unfortunately, mites are very hard to kill, and as a result, miticides are very powerful, and will generally kill everything, both good and bad, leading you down the path of total dependence on chemicals. Water, directed in a brisk spray at the underside of the leaves is probably the best thing you can do for the mites. Do it in the early morning, and don't worry about how damp the soil remains. Not having daylily rust gives you a lot more flexibility. If you need more "power", use soapy water, but keep in mind that it must be a real "soap", not a detergent soap, which may be harmful to the plants. Ivory Flakes and Dr. Bronner's are the only "real soaps" that I am aware of, so I usually buy a horticultural, insecticidal soap.
I really miss the time when I could indiscriminately spray and cool my daylilies on hot, dry days. I once set up some oscillating fan sprinklers to water my containerized daylilies when I went on a two-week vacation. I set them to run for 15 minutes, twice a day, around noon and three o'clock. When I returned, my plants looked better than they did before I left—lush, healthy and green. The sprinklers weren't delivering as much water to the soil as I normally did with my hose and water-breaker nozzle, but they kept the humidity high during the afternoons.
