Cochineal scale, an insect. In small amounts won’t hurt the cactus, opuntia/prickly pear, but can overwhelm it after a few seasons. There are sprays available in any box store.
SonoranSnakeSquad
I have luck just spraying them with the hose. They come right off. I try to avoid using chemicals or “treatments” with this stuff just because it’s so easy (and satisfying) to spray them off. Some may return, but if you stay on top of it, the cactus is fine.
Fun fact:
You’ve probably eaten this bug!
Cochineal is a brilliant crimson dye derived from the tiny, wingless scale insects (Dactylopius coccus) that are under all that white stuff on your prickly pear cactus. It takes roughly 70,000 crushed, dried female bugs to produce one pound of carminic acid dye, historically prized more than silver. It is still used today in food, cosmetics, and drinks.
One_Doughnut3852
Red dye bugs!
datakuru
Get a broom and sweep them off and spray them his a mixture of water, alcohol. Let it sit and hose it down. This will be a thing for a while and you will have to stay on it.
_Rumpertumskin_
look up cochineal i think this might be that, and you can use it to make a dye!
Competitive_Range822
Holy mother of god
Competitive_Shift_84
I’ve used neem oil for them and it helped a lot , had one small shriveled cactus that was planted it was infested with those bugs , I sprayed been oil on it and planted now it’s big and healthy
SimplyMimi
I’ve actually scraped cochineal from cactus for an artist who wanted the dye.
8 Comments
Cochineal scale, an insect. In small amounts won’t hurt the cactus, opuntia/prickly pear, but can overwhelm it after a few seasons. There are sprays available in any box store.
I have luck just spraying them with the hose. They come right off. I try to avoid using chemicals or “treatments” with this stuff just because it’s so easy (and satisfying) to spray them off. Some may return, but if you stay on top of it, the cactus is fine.
Fun fact:
You’ve probably eaten this bug!
Cochineal is a brilliant crimson dye derived from the tiny, wingless scale insects (Dactylopius coccus) that are under all that white stuff on your prickly pear cactus. It takes roughly 70,000 crushed, dried female bugs to produce one pound of carminic acid dye, historically prized more than silver. It is still used today in food, cosmetics, and drinks.
Red dye bugs!
Get a broom and sweep them off and spray them his a mixture of water, alcohol. Let it sit and hose it down. This will be a thing for a while and you will have to stay on it.
look up cochineal i think this might be that, and you can use it to make a dye!
Holy mother of god
I’ve used neem oil for them and it helped a lot , had one small shriveled cactus that was planted it was infested with those bugs , I sprayed been oil on it and planted now it’s big and healthy
I’ve actually scraped cochineal from cactus for an artist who wanted the dye.