My gardenia is in a plastic container with 511 mix which was barerooted and replanted about a month and a half ago. It seems to have established well to the new medium and is currently setting lots of new growth and buds.

I cut down the watering to once a week or once every 10 days because the temps have been very cool and cloudy, rainy days have been the norm around here lately. I check with a kabob stick and the medium seems to be moist in the center.

I've also noticed that several leaves have a brown tip and some are yellowing from the edges. Below are some pics.

Another reason why I've held off on watering more was bugs. I noticed at least 8 flying bugs come out of the soil when moved. They fly slowly and I think they are gnats. There are also fast crawling hopping ones which I think are thrips in the soil. I shook the gardenia and moved the soil until they fly out and I killed them by hand. I sprayed with insecticidal soap and will wait to see what happens.

Can it be possible for me to have these critters in the medium even though it should dry out faster than soil? What would be a good solution to mix and drench the soil with so that all the bugs in the soil would die?

Here are some pics of the leaves.

Yellowing Leaves

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Brown edges

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Your advice is appreaciated!