I would need an image.

I found some in my mint plant that are yellow. They have antennae but I can't get a picture of them because they move so fast and are so small. I found one that looked grayish/brownish and was a lot bigger and different than the rest but it ran into the the soil before I could do anything. I think they are in all of my herb plants which are the ones that are dying. I haven't seen them in my succulents.

Initially I had organic cactus soil given to me. But I moved them into an ecoscraps organic potting mix. And into bigger containers. And outside. They were inside for a little bit. Then I did get gnats in the top soil of one. I got rid of them and put rocks along with egg shells that was suggested to me. I also changed the soil to a dryer one because that one was retaining it for a long time. I went with miracle grow cactus palm and citrus potting mix. I water them every ten days or until the soil feels dry to the middle. I removed the plants from the soil so they are in bags by themselves now. I'll take a picture as soon as I can. There are a ton of mosquitos out right now. The soil is dry on the plants but the bottom fourth of soil in the containers was still wet when I took them out.

 those are the rosemary.

 chocolate mint I took out the little stems that were still alive to grow them separately.

As I suspected, the soil is far too fine particled and moisture retentive for the rosemary. The wet soil at the base - the perched water table - is very characteristic of this sort of soil and is something you really want to avoid, if at all possible.

IMO - as well as that of most other container gardeners - no Miracle Gro soil offers very good growing conditions, even their cactus mix. You want something that has a minimal amount of peat or coir but is heavy on the bark fines, perlite and grit. I would look at the 5-1-1 or gritty mix soil recipes advocated on the Container Gardening (and Cacti and Succulents) forum and go with something like that.

So this is not an insect problem - except very incidentally - but IS a soil and watering problem. Correct the soil and address the watering to suit the soil condition and you should be fine. btw, no point in saving the current rosemary - it is toast!

Do you think I should buy from a different herb brand? The soil left on the rosemary (and even in the second mint picture) is the soil that came with the herbs. Do you think I could buy some bark fines, perlite and grit and mix it with the Miracle Gro soil I already have? I will definitely check those out, thank you so much I was really confused on what was going on with my plants. I want to continue growing herbs, and I have an older rosemary that I can try the mix on. It's still alive but has never grown many leafs.

The plants themselves are probably fine - you don't need to look for a different "brand" - it is the soil that is the problem. Yes, you can work on the MG soil to make it better. I'd add just the perlite and grit or Turface at 1 to 1 ratio (1 part MG soil; 1 part perlite/grit). You can skip the bark fines as they are not that easy to find everywhere (small orchid bark can work if you can find that). And I would repot the existing rosemary in the improved mix after shaking or washing off as much of the current soil as possible.

I have several plants (herbs including rosemary and 2 bay leaves) in MG Cactus Mix as well. I didn't know any better when I potted them but have done a lot of research since. If I decide to repot with amended soil, would 1:1:1 current soil:perlite:repti-bark be okay?

"The plants themselves are probably fine" -- !!!??? Did gardengal48 look at the pictures? Man, those plants are goners. Start over. Overwatering started them on their road to their demise; fungus gnats arrived to hasten things along.

And stop buying Miracle-Gro anything. For years, I have had good luck with ProMix Organic mix with mycorrhizae for seed starting. It's basically peat with some perlite and probably a wetting agent. For potting on and for other container plants, I amend it further with a little coir, more perlite, some finished leaf compost I get from the local recycling center and a bit of my own worm compost. I start a lot of rosemary from cuttings and many lavender plants from seed (from my own plants). For potting on lavender & rosemary, I add some finely crushed eggshell.

What I meant and maybe did not communicate clearly enough was that the "brand" of plants was fine and that buying a different "brand" would not make any difference if using the same sort of soil/potting mix. The outcome would be the same.

I am not an idiot - of course the current plants are toast and should just be thrown out!! I am a very experienced gardener and grow extensively in containers as well as teaching classes on container gardening. I am actually a professional gardener/designer with a degree in horticulture!

For a rosemary, you do not want ANY sort of peat based potting soil. And never include any compost in a potting/container mix. What you want is a very durable, highly textured and fast draining soil, which negates the inclusion of anything like finely textured peat or any other readily degradable organic matter. Something more like a cactus mix or what they discuss frequently on the Container Gardening forum as 'gritty mix'.

OK. Meant no offense, needn't be so defensive, gardengal. I was being a bit facetious as it seemed pretty clear that those plants were beyond hope. Don't want to argue. Using the mix I described above has worked for me for many years. I, too, have worked as a professional and have taught numerous classes on many aspects of gardening. There are many ways to garden. Whatever works, works. Peace.

Your comments singling me out read as though I had no idea what I was talking about when a closer reading of my previous post should have made it clear that it was the soil that was the problem.....not the type/brand of plant. Your tone was more than a little offensive even if that was not your intent.

I was not being defensive but rather attempting to further explain what I could see immediately was the problem - not the plants themselves but what they were planted in. And that makes a huge difference in successful container gardening whether you realize that or not.