Sounds like your vine is slowing down, ripening its fruit, and getting ready for the big rest. Being in a container restricts the vine's roots' foraging ability so it's not too unusual to see your plant coming to a timely end. Leave the pumpkin on the vine until the leaves are dead. If that doesn't happen before Halloween week, pick it and carve it up anyway. If you're not eating it, it doesn't have to be completely ripe. You can leave it on the vine after the leaves are dead if you prefer since you won't be getting any hard freezes in SoCal.

Jennifer —-(Spraying with Neem Oil and or and other mixtures to eradicate the insects organically could still harm those beneficial insects. Some people will just let those pest stay on the tree because they dont want to harm them. Its a difficlt choice to make for some and you need to understand that some bad infestations that might get out of hand and could cause your trees to become weak and allow other diseses to slowly kill your tree. i always try and let Mother Nature work on the right balance of the pest verses the beneficial insets to keep everything in check. But sometimes i will have to step in and use more than organic to combact the problem. its up to you to decide what is best for your tree. Laura Even those that eat leaves ___ Katydids 🌺

Hello everyone, I have a few strawberries (ever-bearing) in hanging containers on my balcony. It's facing west, so the strawberries get direct sunlight from around 2pm until sunset. I bought them around the end of April, then about a month ago - I cut off all the runners as they were just flapping in the wind. As this is a fourth floor balcony - they do get blown quite a bit around. However, I left them out there as inside the balcony - they would not get much sun at all. The balcony itself is fairly shielded. This way they do get some sun at least. Anyway, this is how they looked about a month ago. Lately, I noticed the leaves turning orange/yellow. I don't know if it's because they're being over-watered or because they're getting sunburned. I know that I can get heavy with the water can, but I try not to over-water them, besides when they're in the sun, the soil gets pretty dry even from morning to evening. This is how they look now: I took the container down, as I cut off two strawberries that were ready for picking and I eventually did cut out some of those yellowing leaves. I'm not sure what to do. I did use a liquid fertilizer over two weeks ago (the leaves were already looking like this) hoping that it would somehow help - but it didn't. The liquid fertilizer was 5-5-5 and I dilluted it down to about a 2.5-2.5-2.5 before I used it. If I don't water the plant for a longer time - then I can see the leaves kinda falling down, and as soon as I water it - they spring back up. So I'm not sure if it's just somehow finding the balance with watering or what. My other hanging strawberry - hangs on the left side of the balcony and it gets couple more hours of sun, it is more exposed to the rain but also slightly more shielded from the wind - and it looks better: It gets the same amount of watering and it also got the same amount of fertilizer. I mean some leaves are also turning orange on this plant - but it's not as pronounced as on the top one. What do you guys think is going on here? What can I do? Thank you for any help! This is my first time growing anything on a balcony :)

Until the soil gets warmer, there is little point in worrying about nutrients, which are locked up when soil temps are below 45F. Good luck!