aloes

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FOCUS ON RED

It is an icy, grey day during which winter is stamping its feet in a determined fashion to freeze out any idea of spring unfurling in the wings. What better way of beating the winter blues than focusing on red:

Aloe

Greater Double-collared Sunbird

Amethyst Sunbird at nectar feeder

Gazania

Crassula perfoliata

Virginia creeper

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ALONG THE SOUTHWELL ROAD

In search of a change of scenery, we decided to drive down the steep winding Woest Hill Pass which leads to the Southwell road that eventually takes one to the seaside town of Port Alfred. The pass has been cut through the side of the mountain, exposing the layers of rock:

On the opposite side of the road are lovely views of the Rietberg:

Along the way there are still many aloes in bloom:

One passes game farms, pineapple farms, quarries, goats and cattle. On this particular day we were fortunate to see roan antelope:

Thick bush lines much of the Southwell road:

Although the Woest Hill Pass is tarred, the rest of the road is gravel:

I was fortunate to spot a herd of impala ewes through the roadside grass and scrub:

I was still watching them when an impressive impala ram nudged his way into my view:

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WHITE ALOE SCALE

There is an aloe growing next to a street I walk along regularly that has rapidly become covered in what is known as White Aloe Scale (Duplachionaspis exalbidais) which is a species of armoured scale insect.

White Scale insects are immobile once they lock themselves into place to pierce the plant and begin feeding on sap for their nourishment. They do this by sucking the sap through a fine, thin feeding-tubes. From a distance it looks as if the leaves covered in what appears to be white fluff.

As you can tell from the first photograph above, if the infected plant is left untreated, all its leaves become covered with millions of scale.

What is interesting is that these creatures actually space themselves equidistant from one another on the leaf surface  to  ensure  they  have  sufficient  space  to  develop  fully  without  being  crowded  out – although I think the earlier photographs suggest that their idea of crowding is very different from ours!

Click to access Biological%20control%20of%20the%20common%20aloe%20scale.pdf