CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to raise cicadas?

Grasshopper cicada is also called cicada, and its cicada molt and male cicada can be used as medicine. The newly unearthed old larvae are rich in nutrition, with a protein content of 58-58% and a fat content of 10-32%. At present, cicadas have been put on the table as health food, and the market demand is increasing, and the price is getting higher and higher. Each fresh cicada costs 0.3-0.5 yuan. Wild resources alone can no longer meet the needs. Artificial breeding has begun. Industry insiders predict that cicadas will become one of the important green foods for humans. Artificial breeding of cicadas requires little investment, easy to master technology, saves time, is highly efficient, and has no risks. It is a new rural wealth-making project. 1. Biological characteristics of grasshopper cicadas Grasshopper cicadas are widely distributed and mainly live on broad-leaved trees, mostly on the tender branches of poplars, willows, elms, peach trees, apple trees, etc. A generation is completed in 3-5 years. Female cicadas lay eggs in July and August. The eggs are laid in the wood of new shoots with a diameter of 4-7 mm. Each egg nest lays 6-8 eggs, and an average of 90 eggs are laid on one egg-laying branch. The female insect uses her ovipositor to cut the epidermis of the branch where she has laid her eggs, causing the branch where she laid her eggs to wither and die so that the branch can be buried in the soil after falling to the ground. The life span of an adult is 60-70 days. The cicada eggs fall into the soil with the dead branches and hibernate. They hatch in mid-May of the following year, and the hatching period ends in late June. The egg period is nearly 300 days. The old larvae drill out of the soil from late May to late August, crawl to the branches of shrubs, stems of weeds, etc., molt and feather into adults. The peak period for adults to appear is from mid-June to mid-July, and the last period is in early October. They mate and lay eggs 20 days after emerging as adults. The peak period for egg laying is from late June to late August, and the last period for egg laying is from late September to early October. The death period of adults is early November. II. Rearing methods (I) Cultivating forests First, we should cultivate seedlings of broad-leaved trees. You can plant broad-leaved trees such as willows, poplars, and elms. The trunks should be shorter and covered with nylon nets. The adult insects collected in summer are placed on the trees in the net house to lay eggs, and then the eggs are collected; the branches with cicada eggs collected in autumn are also buried at the roots of the trees in the net house. You can also raise cicadas in conjunction with planting fruit trees. For example, you can plant 300-660 square meters of peach trees, set the trunks lower, surround the peach orchard with welded nets, and seal the top with nylon nets. Release the adult cicadas in the peach orchard, and bury cicada eggs at the roots of the peach trees. (ii) Feeding and management 1. Provide high-quality feed. Such as poplars, willows, elms or various fruit trees. Also

1. Provide good environmental conditions. The depth of cicada eggs is 30-50 cm, and they must be buried in sunny, frost-proof, soft, fertile, pollution-free, and humidity-appropriate places. In winter, wheat straw, rice straw, corn stalks, etc. should be covered to maintain ground temperature. 2. Build a production site. In addition to naturally collecting cicada eggs, you can build a large net house to provide space for adult cicadas to lay eggs and prevent adult cicadas from escaping and being preyed on by enemies. You can use fruit trees in abandoned orchards, or plant seedlings in abandoned orchards, and use cement columns or wooden poles to build fences around them, surrounded by wire mesh, and sealed with nylon mesh on the top. The adults that have emerged or been harvested mate and lay eggs in the net house, gradually forming a seed source area, and there is no need to collect seed eggs from the wild. III. Reproduction technology (I) Obtaining seed sources 1. Egg collection. Choose a place with dense trees and many cicadas, and use a long pole with a high-branch pruner on the top to cut off the thin dry branches on the tree that have been killed by cicada eggs. Any branches that are flat and dry on one side and have an incomplete surface, and a large number of milky white long oval eggs embedded in the subcutaneous wood are cicada eggs. Cut off the excess egg-free dead branches above the egg-laying nest, and leave 10-15 cm egg-free branches below the egg-laying nest trace. Bundle 50 into a small bundle and put them in a plastic bag. The plastic bag should have a hole. 2. Collect adults. Mature larvae are collected at 18-24 o'clock. The harvester uses a flashlight to catch them at the base of the tree trunk. After harvesting, put them in a gauze box to pupate and lay eggs. Plant shrub-like host plants in the egg-laying gauze box, and some fruit trees can be planted. Adults on the tree can also be caught. (ii) Buried eggs. Egg-bearing branches collected from the wild or in the seed source site are concentrated indoors for hatching. Spread 5-10 cm of fine dry sand at the bottom of a wooden or plastic box that is 70 cm long, 40 cm wide, and 20 cm high, and place the egg branches in bundles vertically or horizontally on it. Use a small sprayer to spray mist water continuously to keep the air at a high humidity. During this period, if nymphs are found, the branches with eggs will be buried in the farm with sand. The burial time is from September to October (2-year eggs), and the eggs of the current year can only be buried in June or July of the following year. The burial position is 1 meter away from the base of the trunk under the host plant tree. Dig a narrow trench 30-50 cm deep, such as ring, square, triangle, parallel or radial, so as to facilitate digging or capture. After burying, cover the soil and compact it, and keep a record of the trench shape and depth. After hatching, the cicada starts to grow in June. It weighs 1 gram in the first year, and its whole body and eyes are milky white. The next year, it weighs 3 grams, with darker pigmentation and pink eyes. In the third year, the nymphs mature, weighing 4-4.5 grams, with an average of 210 per kilogram, with brown body color and dark gray eyes. 4. Pest and disease control There are many natural enemies of nymphs and adults, such as toads, snakes, mice, hedgehogs, sparrows and other birds; microorganisms such as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Cordyceps sinensis (Cicada flower fungus). Floods and pesticides and fertilizers are harmful to both nymphs and adults. The most important season is the egg stage of "Cicada ants" on the tree, and the emergence of mature nymphs. The natural enemies of the egg stage and "Cicada ants" on the tree are mainly ants and red small flower toon. The prevention and control measures are to soak the branches with eggs in a solution diluted 100 times with strong chlorine, or to treat the soil with pesticides such as dichlorvos and strong chlorine.