How to Raise Ground Beetles? A Detailed Guide to Ground Beetle Farming Techniques
The ground beetle is what we commonly call the soil beetle (Eupolyphaga sinensis), and it is currently distributed in many places across our country; it is a common insect in daily life. The ground beetle has high value, so many people have now started farming it. But before farming, surely more people want to have an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of its farming techniques!
How to Raise Ground Beetles
1. Rearing conditions: Ground beetles live in dark, damp, loose soil rich in humus. They fear sunlight, hide by day, and are active at night. The optimum temperature for growth is 28-30°C. Below 0°C or above 38°C will cause mass death of adults and nymphs. When the temperature drops to 8°C, they stop activity and enter dormancy. When rearing, the scale should determine the setup; size is flexible and forms are many. Farming can be done in jars, pits (ponds), basins, cabinets, boxes, and so on.
2. Farming facilities: The equipment used for raising ground beetles is relatively simple. For small-scale rearing, a plastic basin is enough. For large-scale ground beetle farming, a three-dimensional multi-layer rearing rack can be used. Build bricks along the walls inside the shed, with each layer kept at about 30-38 cm in height. The shelf boards are best made of cement board. Each wall can have 5-7 rearing layers. Practice has shown that this kind of rearing rack can make the indoor temperature 6-10°C higher than a flat pond, significantly speeding up the growth and development of ground beetles. It takes only about 7 months to complete one generation, and annual output increases markedly.
3. Rearing soil: In winter, choose loose, fertile garbage mud, vegetable garden soil, ditch mud, stove-foot soil, sandy soil, loam, and so on that are rich in humus. Mix in 20-30% chicken manure, pig manure, coking mud ash, or plant ash, and expose it to sunlight. For instars 1-4, use 7-10 cm; for instars 5-8, use 16-20 cm; for nymphs from instar 9 onward and adults, use 20-26 cm.
Ground Beetle Farming Techniques
1. Separate the young in good time: During the rearing process, mother ground beetles often eat larvae and eggs. Therefore, after the larvae can move and forage on their own (referring to nymphs from instar 5 onward), the mother ground beetles should promptly be placed in another pond. At the same time, the larvae should also be reared in separate grades.
2. Rearing density: Ground beetles can be reared at 1.5 kg of adults per sq m, 0.15 kg-0.5 kg for instar 1-3 nymphs, 0.6 kg-1.2 kg for instar 4-6 nymphs, and 0.6 kg-0.9 kg for nymphs from instar 6 onward.
3. Feed the larvae well: Young nymphs mainly refer to instar 1-4 nymphs. They are small and weak, so concentrated feed should be the main food. The feed can be evenly scattered on the surface of the rearing soil, then use your hand to reach about 2 cm into the central soil and rake it, mixing the feed into the surface layer of the soil. Also be careful to prevent escape.
4. Scientific management: Scientific management in artificial ground beetle rearing is the key to success. Mites are a common parasite in ground beetle rearing. For control, tetradifon and 20% ovotran powder can be diluted 1:400 and mixed into the rearing soil. Mites can also be removed by promptly changing the rearing soil or by using fried dough sticks, bones, or pumpkin flowers as bait.
What Food Do Ground Beetles Eat
Ground beetles are omnivorous insects. In terms of feeding characteristics, they like fresh food. They most like eating bran and rice bran, followed by cornmeal, crushed miscellaneous grains, peanut cake, soybean meal, miscellaneous fish, meat, and various green grasses, vegetable leaves, melon and fruit peels, chicken manure, cow dung, and other coarse feed. If fed only with feed such as green grass, growth is slow. A complete feed can use 72% wheat bran, 20% cornmeal, 5% soybean cake, and 3% animal feed (fed cooked). When feeding, it should be scalded with boiling water, and another 30-40% green vegetables or melons and fruits should be added. With complete feed rearing for 5-6 months, individuals can grow into adults.
Ground Beetle Diseases and Control
1. Green mold disease. It mainly occurs in the plum rain season. After the soil beetle (ground beetle) is infected, the abdomen becomes dark green with spots, the whole body is soft, appetite decreases, and soon it crawls out of the mud surface and dies. Once this disease is found, immediately isolate the diseased insects, replace with drier pit mud, and reduce density. At the same time, spray the insect bodies with 0.5% formalin solution; erythromycin 0.25 g can also be mixed into 0.25 kg of wheat bran and fed continuously 2-3 times until recovery.
2. Egg mass aspergillosis. Because of high temperature and high humidity in the jar (bowl), Aspergillus multiplies in large numbers, causing death of eggs and nymphs. Control methods are: keep the pit soil dry, with humidity not exceeding 20%; collect egg masses once every 10 days; mix 1 part 3% bleaching powder with 9 parts lime powder and scatter it on the egg masses for disinfection. After insects emerge, sieve out the larvae every 3 days and place them in larval jars for rearing. Do not feed during the incubation period.
When farming ground beetles, you must do a good job in selecting the farming site, and then choose suitable soil for rearing. During rearing, the choice of feed is also very important. In addition, disease control must be strengthened so that they can grow more healthily.