EVERYTHING I PLANT DIES!!!

Ok I'll try to make this compact.i started indoor gardening around two months ago,I've successfully gown lettuce sage basil parsley and oregano as well as cat nip lemon tree seedling and avacado tree seedling and chamomile. All started by me.
I installed two decorative pots on my wall under decorative picture frames and potted stevia in one pot and rose merry and sweet mint.
The stevia started turning black or brownish and dying while that happened I noticed there came a infestation of pests little gnats and inside the pot there were what seemed to be hundreds of red and whitish tiny tiny bugs.soon after the Stevie died I bough new ones and the. The rose merry died then the sweet mint so I bought new mint because at the time I was told mint is a natural repellent for pests.
So then once again the stevia died so I left that pot empty the. The
Mint died and I decided ok let me change the soil, so I got a cup and scooped out most of the soil as well as most of the pests and switched to organic soil and planted cinnamon Basel and peppermint which should be natural repellents as well. They were doing good and mostly all the pests were gone I'm guessing due to me scooping out most of the old soil I noticed they were dying again so I installed a light fixture above them(before I was using a portable LED light strip.
So now the peppermint as always is turning black from the tip of the leaves inward and curling up the shriveling up and dying(not at the stem yet)
And the cinnamon basil which was doing hella good is not turning light brown and the second I touch the brown leaves(new big leaves not old ones) they fall off without me even have to pick them off.
Sid note these plants were not grown by me they were bought from Home Depot. EVERY plant I've personally grown is doing well with little to no pests. It seems everything g I plant in those pots on the wall die.
If switched the soil
Switched to repellent plants
Installed grow light fixture
Dried out the water to see if I was over watering nope
Added water ,nope still nothing.
I have no clue!!!!
And now the damn red pests are back by the hundreds in the soil. I'm guessing I should've taken the pots of the wall and cleaned them before adding new soil /or there coming from the soil that Home Depot plants them in.
Or maybe the change from growing outdoors to now growing indoors is to much for them I'm not sure but it sucks and I can't figure it out ,I've tried everything I'm aware of. HEEEEEELP!

More photos

Hi Adenibi-
Well I can't know anything for sure, but I can guess about a few problems.
First of all you are trying to grow a lot of plants that want to be outside in full sun. Your little lights can't possibly provide enough light for them to thrive. Rosemay, mint and basil are outdoor food crops and it is hard to grow them inside.
I think it is possible you are overwatering. Plants like Rosemary are from dry sandy places near the Mediterranean, and like excellent drainage.
In terms of the bugs, indoor gardening often attracts pests like this. It looks like you are trying to grow edibles, so don't want to use poisons?
I have a couple of suggestions that might help if so-
first, you can use yellow sticky traps, the gnats are attracted to the yellow, land and get stuck.
Or, spend a bit more $ and buy some Azamax. This is a very interesting insect killer. It is a hormone involved with production of the insects exoskeleton, so they eventually die (they do NOT die right away). New ones cannot grow, as when they try to grow new skeleton for the next stage of life they die. It is safe for use inside, as we don't have exoskeletons, and any bug inside is going to die anyway (I don't use it outside as it will also harm beneficial insects). It is even considered "organic". When I have had inside infestations of potted plants, I take each one outside, spray the whole plant and also the surface of the soil, so any hatching insect egg will be exposed. This has been very helpful for me.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Ok so I'll purchase the azamax, and I'll also start some herbs indoors, I think since they were started outdoors and they're outdoor plants (which respectively all plants are) I think if I start some herbs indoors they'll atleast be used to the limited resources. So while I'm working on the ones i have if they die out then I'll just use the ones I'm growing.

Hi-
The Azamax is great,. and since you dilute it into your own sprayer it lasts a really long time.
If you spend a fair amount of $$, you can get grow lights that are really powerful. Here is a link to Charley's Greenhouse, they sell all kinds of grow lights, I think you would need the "HID" (High Intensity Discharge) type, rather than fluorescent. I bought my T5 fluorescent fixtures from them for starting seeds indoors. Charley's is local for me, but they do a lot more business on the internet. They will talk to you if you call, but have a lot of "tip sheets" in there website that answer many common questions.

http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_lighting_tips

Ok I'll go check out the grow lights, this morning I trimmed down the plants I got a tip that they might not be doing well because of the limited amount of resources vs the amount of plants I have bunched together.

On it

Airflow around the plants, proper soil for the plant, proper depth of pot for the plant- basils need space and root depth, rosemary does too, temperatures are vital, drainage is vital, growing in home needs intense morning lights! Bugs are prob in the soil so the azamax is a good idea. It would take 5 gal buckets per each plant for me to grow indoors...
1) tuscan blue rosemary 2) unknown rosemary pro spice island, 3) prostate rosemary 4)lime and thai volunteer basils 5)african blue basil. As it is the rosemary plants are in raised beds, grow hardest tween Feb and July, then slow down in the higher heats of summer. I should have chopped the rosemaries back, but will definitely do it this fall. Our Feb had nothing colder than 36* and the plants loved it- since the days were above 60*.

This message was edited May 14, 2016 9:06 AM

Okie dokie here we go

Now remember Azamax does not work instantly-it keeps hatched eggs from growing into insects, and kills adults because they cannot make new skeleton for the next stage of life. You may see some insects for a little while.

Good luck!