Forgot - if it is in a barrel, that may be part of the problem. Be sure it's getting enough water. I tried growing one in a barrel once and it didn't do well at all. I had to put it in the ground and it was very happy. I don't plant them in pots or barrels any more. You might also ask about this on the Florida forum, or Southern Gardening forum. There are LOTS of brug growers in Florida, that's where a couple of mine came from.

I planted Big Max pumpkin seeds about a month ago in their own patch and they have been growing beautifully. Over in our big garden we had an eggplant that was getting destroyed by insects. Since we planned on eating the eggplant we wanted to keep it organic. We looked up a remedy so we mixed garlic, cayenne pepper, and dish soap with water... because they hate all three. Then we noticed that the pumpkin plant started to get some nibbles in the leaves. So we sprayed the pumpkin plant too. The eggplant was still ravaged by bugs and died, it was eaten up pretty good. However the nibbles on the pumpkin plant are bigger and look more like grub bites. Anyways this is what the pumpkin plants look like now. Is it grubs, the spray (soap?), extreme heat, or is it just a disease?... And what can I do about it? (3 mounds 3 plants per mound) Having problems producing chlorophyll, it turns a little yellow and the next day it will be white. Stalk looks good and healthy, new leaves are dying. So I don't think the sun is scorching it. The Rotting/wilting seems independent from the bug bites. Grub Bites 1 Mound I think I have a bug problem. Any suggestions are welcomed. Thanks in advance!

I'm aware that the flys do no damage, just a irritant. I'm also well aware of the over watering problem. But the larva eat organic matter, sometimes the roots of tender seedlings. Damping off is a problem with lots of seedlings but not so much with palms. When I check the dead seedlings, you can see where the tap root has been chewed, the larva are visible with a magnifying glass. I found an article somewhere that said palm seedlings are paticularily vunerable for some reason. We have allowed the soil to dry out to the point of almost death in an effort to control them. I've done my research, there are beneficial mites and nematodes that I've experimented with. For the moment we seem to have it under control. My point was that the purchased soil booster came heavily infested, and then spread to all our other indoor plants. It can happen. We keep the sticky yellow strips about, just to monitor them, I only use soiless mix such as promix or sunshine mix and no longer add anything. I haven't tried ammonia, I'll have to pick some up. I have found on this forum that I'm not alone, especially with the Moso bamboo seedlings.

Looks like spider mite damage, too. Matt, plants are put on the sale rack for a reason.....it won't sell for full retail. Personally, I dislike those sale racks as a lot of people end up with problems that they don't know how to handle. It's up to you to inspect a plant very carefully before purchasing it. I'd be sort of surprised if they refunded you the price of a plant on discount. The usual policy of the big box stores is to dump infested and infected plants Oleander aphids are extremely common on milkweed. But because the plants are a primary food source of the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar, it's not recommended that you use anything but plain water and squishing to get rid of the little pests.