know yourself; know your enemy better

"Know your enemy and know yourself, find naught in fear for 100 battles."

I should have remembered my Sun Tzu when I strapped on my gear to do battle in my patio. But I made an even more basic error. I did not know who my enemy was. And that is a perfect recipe for defeat.

Since last May I have been battling an insect invasion in my cup-of-gold vines (something is bugging me). It is always questionable to rely on northern experiences to define problems in Mexico. There are simply too many variables. But I disregarded that pearl of wisdom to conclude my vines were under attack by mealybugs.

Several of you offered some kind advice last Spring on dealing with my new-found competitors -- from using a water hose to spray them off to calling in a chemical airstrike that would lift the hopes of any Dow shareholder.

Nothing worked. The infestation was so bad that most of the vines were denuded of leaves and the exudation that rained down on the heliconia leaves was thick enough to prevent photosynthesis. The landscaping was on the verge of deat.

I took what seemed to be the last resort. I cut down the vine and let it regrow. And grow it did. Without a mealybug (or whatever they were) in sight.

But, alas, the bugs returned a couple of weeks ago in larger numbers. They appear to be more resilient than the Taliban.

The same day I noticed their return, someone posted photographs on a local Facebook page asking what the insects were that were currently sucking her plants dry. I could have taken the same shot of my vines.

My friend Dan Patman posited a theory I had not considered. He suggested that they looked like cochineal, the scale insects that were the second most-valuable export (following silver) from Mexico to Europe during the Spanish colonial era. Dan first introduced the insects to me during a trip to Copper Canyon.

I had not even considered that possibility. For one very good reason. Mealy bugs were part of my personal experience. Cochineal were not.

So, I took a closer look at the invaders, did a bit of research, and applied the scientific method to my new-found database. There were two major problems with the cochineal theory.

First, even though cochineal are scale insects like mealybugs, their sole food source is cacti -- primarily nopal. As an interesting side note, cochineal are native to Peru and Mexico. Scientists now believe they were endemic to Peru and were exported to Mexico on traded food products between Peru and Mexico prior to the arrival of Columbus. The trade turned out to be a very beneficial one for Mexico.

Second, the value of the insects is that when the females are crushed, they produce a carmine dye. They were used in Europe to produce the bright carmine found in the get-up of Catholic cardinals and in the military jackets the British soldiers wore to subdue the inhabitants of its empire.

One of the methods I have used to clear the vines is crushing the insects. The color they produce is not carmine. It is more like the yellow of grasshoppers hitting a car's windshield.

Based on all that, I have eliminated cochineal from the enemies list. And that is a bit disappointing. I was hoping to farm and sell the dye-producers. It is a lucrative market. I could open the house with no name to tourists interested in crafts.

Where does that leave me? My research has verified that the bugs are scale insects. But that is a broad category.

The reassuring part of that discovery is the treatment for all scale insects is similar. The less reassuring part of that discovery is that I have tried almost all of the treatments in the past to no avail. The Jack-and-the-beanstalk method may be my only solution. Again.

After looking at the images of the various scale insects, I have reverted to the conclusion that I named (if not claimed) the correct enemy. They seem to be mealybugs.

For some reason, while leafing through my copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, I see nothing directly on point about battling mealybugs. Perhaps, I just need a bit more extrapolation.

There is always this. "All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

I just need to learn how those mealybugs think.