I think it's way too hot now for peas in Zone 8 and they're dying as they normally would. They're cold- and cool-weather plants, as you know. Here's information about fusarium wilt on peas from Penn State, and I doubt if your peas have it unless your soil had it to begin with or your seeds were not from a reputable dealer and were infected. But if that were the case, I think you'd see the infection pretty soon after they germinated, not later. Truly, I think your peas are just naturally giving up the ghost because of the heat. Fusarium Wilt and Near-Wilt are two major wilt diseases caused by different races of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi. Symptoms and controls for these two wilts differ, although they are caused by related fungi. Fungi that cause both diseases can be introduced with the seed. Once present, these fungi persist indefinitely in soil. Fusarium wilt often is detected by appearance of yellowing of lower leaves and stunting of plants. Leaflet margins curl downward and inward. The stem may be slightly swollen and brittle near the soil line. Internal woody stem tissue often is discolored, turning lemon brown to orange brown. Externally, the root system appears healthy; however, secondary root rots are likely to occur on plants wilted for long periods. Eventually, wilted plants may die. Near-wilt symptoms are similar to Fusarium wilt symptoms. however, near-wilt plants die more slowly than do Fusarium wilt plants. Also, internal woody stem tissue usually is brick-red in near-wilt plants. This discoloration extends throughout the plant.

Hi & welcome to Gardenweb! Sorry your plant is ailing. From what you said, these are the important clues. "my window sill is right above the heat vents." This sounds like it's getting directly blasted with hot, dry air occasionally. Plants don't like that, intermittently, in a generally cold room. "The soil was slightly moist at the base after weeks of not watering." This sounds like the roots have rotted and are unable to deliver moisture to the plant. So the foliage wilts. Adding more water won't help that, just exacerbate it. This is what overwatering means but it's not your fault. It's the soil holding too much moisture, so the problem is really underdrying. If there are no tiny particles in a pot, it will dry soooo much faster. People who lose plants because they forget to water would have a hard time with this, but if you're the more common 'overwatering' type, which it sounds like you are from reading about your Aralia, this can mean the difference between plants that stay alive vs. those that die. I used to kill plants by 'overwatering' too until learning how to fix things through the great info here at GW. I might recommend an alternative source of water other than tap water, such as rain, melted snow, condensate from dehumidifier or A/C, distilled. It makes a huge difference if tap water is making one visibly ill (which it usually does over time.) Due to genetic reasons, these Aralias have been renamed Schefflera. Your plant's correct name (for today anyway,) is probably Schefflera elegantissima 'Cultivar name here.' That gives us more clues about its' preferences. Mainly, that the roots can't survive sitting in soggy, dense, airless soil (if we didn't already know that when it was Aralia.) To fix that, we need to give them something much more chunky, porous, airy. Most plants can survive getting too dry once in a while. OTOH, getting soppy wet too often and taking forever to dry out is fatal to most. More light sounds like a good idea. I have several cultivars of S. elegantissima that grow outside, with the sun hitting them for a few hours in the afternoon. Another pot that is an east windowsill, so direct sun for a few hours in the morning. I would encourage you to paste what you've written into a post on the house plant forum, to gather all of the excellent advice possible there. This informative post there will make it an easy trip via a click. (At the top of the post will be a link to the house plant forum page.) If you can add a pic, you'll get even more specific advice. Sending good vibes!

A wet growing medium certainly encourages root rots. Here is a link that might be useful: Root Rots in Pisum Sativum

Dulahey, We cannot let ourselves get too fixated on planting by the calendar because if this was 2012, you could have peas in the ground already and they'd be fine. It just happens that it is 2014 and the weather is not the same as 2012's. Plants and weather ignore our human calendars, so I try not to look at the calendar too much and fret about what I "should be" doing at a certain point in time. I watch the weather and try to figure out what it is going to allow me to do. I watch the soil temps and air temps and plan and plant accordingly because seeds sprout and plants grow when soil temps and air temps are in the right range---no matter what the date on the calendar shows. It still is challenging because our weather can see-saw wildly back and forth from one extreme to another at this time of the year. One day last week it hit a gorgeous 80 degrees here, and this morning it was 14 degrees around sunup. I never would make any planting plans based on one day's weather. Otherwise, on the day it hit 80 degrees, I would have been making plans to put some tomato plants in the ground, and that wouldn't have worked out too well with the weather we are having this week. Notice how Dorothy talks about her second pea seed planting being around March 1st---she doesn't say it always is exactly on March 1 which gives her leeway to adjust her plans as needed if her weather is acting too unsettled. Since none of us has a crystal ball and can know what the weather will do a few days down the line, we look at the calendar when it is about our usual seed-starting time, we look at the weather we are having, we look at the 7-10 day forecast, we think about previous years with similar weather patterns and then we try to guess if "now" is the right time or if it isn't. Sometimes we guess right and sometimes we guess wrong. About the only thing certain about our weather is that whatever weather temperatures we are enjoying on a given day in February, March or April likely will change in a day or two. Once May arrives, more consistency sets in. Then, you know, summer arrives and it stays consistently hot and miserable for the next 3 months. Dorothy, Your poor babies. Ten degrees would be such a disaster for them. I'm beginning to wonder exactly when we will be able to transplant all our little snap pea babies into the ground. It was crazy cold here last night. The forecast said 24 so I expected at least 20 and covered up the onions, and ultimately we dropped to 14. Our forecast for Sunday is slightly worse than last night's, so I'll cover up the onions long before sunset Sunday. Beginning tomorrow we'll have a couple of decent days with highs in the 60s/70s here and then the real cold returns. I'm glad I do not have peas in the ground yet. One advantage of having the greenhouse is that I can hold something like peas out there in it a bit longer. Even though we went to 14 degrees this morning, the greenhouse only dropped to 29. I'm starting to wonder if I should just plant the peas in some of the large containers in the greenhouse instead of putting them in the ground. Dawn