Houseplants - Cactus
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  (August) I have the most interesting plant that a friend gave me. I thought it was some type of cactus-and not to attractive at that! This summer it put on flower buds that opened to the most amazing white flowers, but they were gone almost as soon as I saw them in the morning. Do you have any idea what this plant is?

  It sounds to me like you have a night blooming cereus -Epiphyllum oxypetalum. This member of the cactus family is also called "Queen of the Night". I consider it an ugly duckling plant, that has outstanding summer blooms which open after the sun sets, and closes when the sun hits them. To really enjoy them, you must have them somewhere you can see them in the evening. The flowers are quite fragrant, and huge, and appear once a year in mid to late summer. A mature plant can produce multiple blooms which will open over the period of several weeks. The plants are quite prolific in their growth habit and propagate easily.

  I am enclosing three different cactus leaves. There are brown scaly things on some of them and corky tissue on the others. I have been growing cactus for years, but have only had these problems the past two years. I have almost 100 cactus. This seems to be spreading more and more. What is this and what can I do about it? I have sprayed them with everything I could think of but nothing seems to work. Please tell me what to do.

  It appears you have several things at work, but the main cause of concern are the brown scales. They are a type of insect that is hard to control--and it is appropriately named scale. They produce a hard outer protective shield which prevents insecticides from penetrating. The first thing I would do, is isolate all of the plants which are affected with anything. If you leave them all together, you will eventually infest all your plants. The most heavily damaged plants, I would dispose of. It is not worth trying to save every plant. On the slightly damaged plants, cut them back by half or more. Move them to a carport or garage and spray with a lightweight horticultural oil. The corky tissue is caused by oedema, which means the plants aren’t happy in their environment. It is either too humid or too wet for cactus. Remember, cactus like a dry climate.

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