As a suggestion, It sounds as if you are using the wrong feed and
fertilizer.Methalated spirit is what we use to get rid of things like mealy
bug.I would also suggest subscribing to the British Cactus and Succulent
Society Forum via their website.
Good luck
Anthony in Manchester

The message tVKic.17$1f2.1@newsfe1-win
from "Margaret Morris" contains these words:

As a suggestion, It sounds as if you are using the wrong feed and
fertilizer.Methalated spirit is what we use to get rid of things like mealy
bug.I would also suggest subscribing to the British Cactus and Succulent
Society Forum via their website.

Your post is in the wrong thread (list of posts on a particular topic,
all with the same title). The conversation you're taking part in is a
thread called "columnar cactus"; you didn't need to give your post a
different header (title) "re rotting cactus".

It's much easier for everyone to make sense of newsgroups if all the
parts of a conversation are kept together in the same thread under the
same header. Also, it's usual to quote a small part of the post you're
replying to so that other readers know who you're responding to and what
you're talking about.

There's a weekly post called "abc for newcomers to uk.rec.gardening"
which has lots of advice on how to get the most out of the group.

Janet.