Plant in pic is in a soil that is built to retain to much water even though your intentions are good to water the soil is not draining well enough and part of the major problem.

After reading click here

Notice the soil in the link above ?. It's a 5-1-1 (that has been modified by the person who posted the pic) gritty mix that will be much better for your plant.

Basic gritty mix in conversation

Do you think that that is the reason my leaves are browning all over?? they brown and get crunchy. I mean when I water it, most of the water flows right out.... I was thinking of repotting it but I know that they dont like their roots disturbed and since it has been struggling I didn't want to further the complications. Well, I have some perlite and peat moss....anyone know what ratios I should use?

I also think it might be root bound....but Im not sure what to do about that either now.. how do you untangle that mess?

I cant be certain about the reason for browning leaves anything from watering to temperature changes can also cause them to turn.

To me it seems to make more sense to risk re-potting sooner more than later and have more time for the plant to recover in a better soil than to continue growing efforts in the soil that it's in now and then re-pot it later. My main reasoning behind saying this is the plant in pic isn't doing so well in the soil it's in now.

The untangle mess will be messy but could be already one step closer and easier than one thinks. A damp/wet peat removes more easily than a dry hard peat, but as was mentioned the water runs over the container when watered might suggest the inner container the peat moss core could be nearly brick hard.

I really think the best way to save a gardenia is to leave them at the store.

Mike

lolololololololo.....Mike, I needed a great laugh..olol

Hi Wes and I hope you are doing well:)

Your tree has been damaged before you ever brought it home, burnt from too much sign, and desiccated by mites.

All three can be corrected and I would leave a repot alone. Your mix will do just fine if your plant is almost root bound until it gets it strength back

I would spray it for pest, make sure to keep it in a humid environment, and take off all the burt leaves. I would in fact cut it back hard and place it in a well lit are, not full sun until it recovers.
Have you ever heard of bright diffused light? That would do it wonders.

I would leave the roots alone until you see vigor come back to the leaves.

Mike

Thanks for your reply everyone. I was not aware that the gardania was such a fussy plant... sigh. Im just going to ignore it from now on.
Today I placed it outside(second day I did this) when I came home at around 6 pm, it looked like there was even more brown leaves on it but the rest of the green leaves had all PERKED UP. Im not sure what to make of this, more brown leaves but better looking green leaves?? I also repotted it in a bigger pot in a mixture of scotts soil, perlite and peat moss. There was no way to loosen the roots, I tried but I was afraid I was going to damage them... I poked a few holes through the middle thinking that maybe this would help the core in receiving some water. I sure hope this helps. My mother in law also got two gardenias that same day as I got my own and hers seem to be doing well enough. sigh.. maybe if mine dies shell give me one of hers... lol

some updated pictures. After letting it sit out in the sun, the branches did perk up a little, I also removed all the brown leaves... sigh.. it looks so sad and sick but I did notice some new bulbs on the bottom coming in. well see how it does in the new bigger pot. I think that it still has mites so Im going to continue misting it and hopefully I can still get it outside in this big, heavy pot lol

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Doing well Mike M thanks for asking and for chiming in Mksmith Indeed LOL but in order to keep some of them at the store you and I will have to keep Mike M. away from Logees problem is even though I'm closer to them he still gets there faster than I can.