Monica, The main active ingredient in that product is imidacloprid which is a powerful toxic chemical. While it is quite effective at getting rid of many awful pests including spider mites and mealy bugs (my personal nemesis, the mealy) it also kills many beneficial insects like bees. It is also harmful to people and pets. I have used it in the past, and if faced with mealy bugs dripping off my plants I might resort to it again, but for now I have eliminated bayer from my own toolkit. Easy decision since NY State made it illegal first, and amazon won't even ship it to me. I would never ever consider spraying or using it indoors. I encourage you to do some research on imidacloprid to at least be well informed. If you eat the fruit from your citrus, make sure you know what you are doing. Daniel

It's more important that what nutrients are available are only those the plant needs for normal growth and available in a favorable ratio, than where the nutrients came from; plants cannot absorb anything in organic form. Also, a container medium's structure is it's most important asset, the second is how long it can retain that structure while in use. A medium's ability to provide nutrition for the plant should be very low on the list of things to focus on, this because it is monkey easy for the grower to institute and take absolute control over their plants' nutritional needs; and, there is nothing in worm castings a plant needs that it can't get from a good soluble synthetic fertilizer. Worm castings diminish a medium's singular most important asset - its structure. Al

Rodney, thank you. The soil is almost certainly the problem...I bought it during a pandemic moment of panic when I needed something and local nurseries were closed or had extremely long lines. It’s organic, but from Home Depot. I swore once I’d never buy it there again (last time I did, I also got fungus gnats bad). My mom swears by heating the soil in the oven. I’ve never tried it. I’ll try mosquito dunks. About the peas...I’m in Bay Area, California, so I suppose it’s too hot, though evenings are still cool. I just don’t understand why the lower parts are dying first. They get less sun/heat because of the shade of the balcony wall. I guess we’ll replant in the fall, now that I know they’ll grow in this pot.

Fungus gnats thrive in an warm, wet, environment where there is a reliable supply of rotting organic matter. If you are using a bagged potting medium comprised of fine materials like peat, coir, compost, composted forest products, sand, etc,. and follow the advice to water when the top inch or two of soil becomes dry to the touch, the primary cause of the gnat problem would go under the heading of grower error. Unless your pot is very shallow, 5" deep or less, the advice to water when the top inch or two of soil is dry is a recipe for over-watering. If you are using an 8" deep pot and water when the top 2 inches of soil feels dry, you could easily be watering when the lower 5-6" of the medium is still 100% saturated with water. Using a wooden dowel as a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water is a good way to keep plants much healthier and avoid fungus gnat infestations. Here is something about using a "tell", and there ARE alternatives to changing your soil. Before I get into that, how large are the plants we're talking about - something easily handled over the sink or something it takes significantly greater effort to move around? Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al