OH, NO! SCALE

 If there is one advantage to being short-sighted it is that as you grow older your close-up vision becomes even more acute bringing with it an added bonus. This makes you capable of reading the tiniest print, taking out splinters and spines from cactus and you can see when scale develops on one of your cactus. Albeit, a little late but not too late this time. Certainly worth getting out the fine paint brush and the bottle of 70% alcohol. 

How could this have happened? I am normally very observant when it comes to any kind of change. But this was the problem that I discovered this morning when I went into the greenhouse. It almost seemed that the multiplication of the insidious scale had happened overnight, although it had probably been going on for a while. I have scoured the Internet for an identification on the cigar shaped invaders. The only photo I came up with was Eunoymus scale. Yes, there are one or two of the adult tortoise-shell type scales but what are these others? Are they a different type of scale or the young? I think they maybe what are known as the crawlers which is a time at which the insect is most vulnerable. I spent about 30 minutes painting them with alcohol and finding that many of them just seemed to be easily removed by the treatment.I will repeat the application in a weeks time keeping them in isolation until clear.

This is not the first time scale has visited my cactus and succulent garden. Outdoors, the prickly pears ( Opuntia) also get scale, the kind that look like little tortoise shells or limpets. They also seem to appear overnight soon turning the whole pad white if you don't catch early and sucking the juices from the pads. When a pad becomes extremely infested it is simpler to remove rather than treat. So far no cochineal scale (Dactylopius spp) have visited my prickly pear This scale, in the adult stage, has the white fluffy coating that is hard to penetrate with oils and soapy sprays. If there is one reason for liking the cochineal scale it is because it carries with it a great story. When I give tours at the Wildflower Center I delight in finding the scale and telling people how it was discovered by the Spanish when they arrived in  Mexico and became so prized by them that its value was second only to silver.  I usually scrape off a scale with my finger and squash it to reveal this bright red color. The Aztecs used this carmine red to dye cloth producing vibrant red color. Europe had nothing like it and the Spanish were successful in keeping their source secret for many years. They managed to do this until 1777 when a French explorer discovered their secret source in Oaxaca.

When I first heard the story it jogged my memory of the little bottle of cochineal in the pantry at home which was used for dying cakes pink. At first I was a little horrified but then I learnt about the later substitutes for cochineal, which had almost killed the industry. Many of the artificial dyes that had been created were found to be carcinogenic. Today cochineal is used less but still found in candy and lipsticks although the cry from vegetarians has led to discovery of vegetable dyes being used. And yes, all those red Smarties I ate as a little girl and used to paint my lips were dyed with cochineal.

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If you don't live in the southwest then you may be wondering what ghastly thing I have done to my finger. If you do live here then you will probably know I've been poking around in the prickly pear cactus. Carefully, I might add.

A prickly pear cactus has established itself under the red oak above the house and a few days ago I noticed a colony of Dactylopius coccus has taken up residence on some of the pads. I did try to separate the insect from its waxy coating but had no success.

Back in the 1500s I could have made myself a lot of money cultivating this white fluffy stuff-or rather what lies beneath. Often referred to incorrectly as the cochineal beetle it is in fact the cochineal scale insect.

When the Spanish explorers voyaged to South America, they were amazed at the beautiful scarlet robes worn by the inhabitants.  In Europe the red dye they were using, made from an insect called the kermes, was not nearly so brightly colored. When they learnt about the origin of the dye the Spanish cornered the market and managed to keep the origin a closely guarded secret until the 1700s. The import of of cochineal from the Americas was second only to silver. Cloth dyed with cochineal became a sign of wealth and importance. It was used to dye the garments worn by the cardinals of Rome and the redcoats of England.

I first learnt about the cochineal scale about ten years ago when I was doing the docent training at the Wildflower Center. Now, I like to search out a cactus pad with scale and tell visitors about the little bottle of cochineal in my mother's kitchen cupboard. She used it to color cakes pink. As I demonstrate the existence of the scale on a prickly pear I also tell visitors about all the other products in which cochineal is used as a dye. It is the only natural red dye and used in products like lipsticks, candies, jello. If you think that's bad then think again about the substitute often used for cochineal. Red dye 40 is made from coal tar. Which would you rather eat?