I have a Christmas cactus. I got this cactus from my late mother and I cherish it, however the plant got flies after transplanting it using a leading brand of dirt.

I tried everything to get rid of the flies, soap baths, so called safe sprays, vinegar, etc. The only thing that worked was a spray from Ortho for plants and vegetables. It didn't mention anything about using it on indoor plants, but it did say that it was safe for outdoor plants. So I used it and the flies are now gone (hopefully).

My problem is that a couple of weeks after I initially found the flies, the stem of the Christmas cactus started turning brown and the leaves started to look limp and are now falling off. The brown color goes only half way up the stem on most of the stems.

Can anyone tell me what to do to stop this drooping and falling off. Do I need to cut off the good part of the plant and reroot them. Is there a fertilizer that I can use.

Please help this is the only living thing that I have of my mother!!

Thank you so much.

If it is brown at the stem, cut off and stems like that because they will never come back to life and could cause stem rot on your plant. Any of the stems that you cut off, if it still have green at the tips of the leaves, cut off the part that is still green and place it in rooting hormone. Plant the clipping in either a cactus mix, seed starting mix or something high in peat moss. Make sure that you are also not overwatering it beacuse the soil need to dry thoughgly between watering.

---

Operational Manager at
Earl May Nursery and Garden Center in Ames, Iowa