Detailed Explanation of Key Points of Scientific Golden Cicada Breeding Technology
What is the golden cicada? The golden cicada is actually the cicada before it has shed its shell. Do not underestimate this golden cicada; the golden cicada is especially rich in nutrients, and in many places the golden cicada is served as a famous dish, with delicious meat. Moreover, the golden cicada also has considerable medicinal value. With so many benefits, golden cicada breeding projects have risen rapidly.
Scientific Golden Cicada Breeding Technology
1. Obtaining seed sources
Primary seed sources can be obtained by natural collection in the field; eggs, nymphs and adults can all be collected as seed sources. From July to September, each insect stage can be collected; from August to September is the best season for collecting nymphs; September is the best time for collecting cicada egg branches,
Artificial golden cicada breeding technology allows collection throughout the year. For egg collection, you can choose an ideal site with dense trees and many cicadas, use fruit branch shears or a long pole with a hook at the top, and gently remove from the trees the 1-2 year old thin dead branches that have been killed by cicada egg laying. Any branch that is flat and withered on one side with an incomplete surface and has large numbers of milky white elongated oval eggs embedded in the xylem under the bark is a cicada egg branch. Cut off the excess egg-free dead tips above the egg-laying scars, leave 10-15 cm of egg-free branch section below the egg-laying scar marks, tie about 50 strips into a small bundle, and place them in a plastic bag for later use. To capture nymphs, target naturally matured fully grown nymphs. Nymph collection can be done from 7 to 12 at night at the base of the tree trunk by shining a flashlight to catch them; after collection, place them in a gauze cage to emerge and lay eggs. In the egg-laying gauze cage, plant shrub-like host plants, mainly various seedling fruit trees. There are many ways to catch adult cicadas on trees, such as using a fire pile to lure and gather them at night. To ensure the adult cicadas are not damaged, wheat gluten can be used to stick and catch them. The method is to wash the prepared dough with water many times, remove the starch, keep the pure gluten, store it in broad lotus leaves or poplar leaves, stick it to the top of a bamboo pole, and stick and catch the adults in the early morning or during the day.
The collection of egg-laying branches should be taken as the main way to obtain seed sources.
2. Seeding
The seeding targets are newly hatched nymphs and eggs close to hatching. Place the egg-bearing branches collected directly from the field or from the seed source site together indoors to promote hatching. Hatching method: in a plastic box 70 cm long, 40 cm wide and 20 cm high, spread 5-10 cm thick fine dry sand on the bottom, place the egg branches upright or horizontally in bundles on top, continuously spray mist with a small sprayer, maintain high air humidity around the egg-bearing branches, and let excess water droplets be absorbed by the fine sand at the bottom. During this period, repeatedly spot-check the hatching of the eggs. Once nymph activity is found, the branches together with the fine sand can be seeded into the breeding site.
On the ground under the host plants at the breeding site, about 1 m away from the base of the trunk, dig regular narrow trenches about 30-50 cm deep, such as in ring, square, triangular, parallel or radial shapes, in order to facilitate later digging and collection. After “seeding”, cover with soil and press firm, and keep records of the time, quantity, “seeding” trench shape and depth, etc.
From the egg stage to growing and developing into a fully mature nymph (cicada turtle), the cicada needs to grow underground for three winters and summers (actually 2 years): in the first year, growth begins in June, and in that year the growing body weight is only about 1 g, and the whole body and eyes are milky white; in the second year, the body weight develops to about 3 g, the body pigmentation deepens, and the eyes are pink; in the third year, the nymph (cicada turtle) matures, with a body weight of 4.5-5 g, averaging 210 per kilogram, and at this time the body color is brown and the eyes are dark gray. According to body weight, body color depth and eye color changes, the time age stage of nymph growth and development can be accurately judged.
Habits of the Golden Cicada
Cicadas belong to the class Insecta, order Homoptera, family Cicadidae. After molting from the egg into a cicada ant and entering the soil, they live underground for at least 4 years, and some even take more than ten years before they can molt and emerge from the soil to become cicada pupae. When emerging, they use their saw-toothed forelimbs to dig out of the ground from soil more than 30 cm deep, climb up tree trunks or other climbable objects, and by air-drying and their own ability, molt out through the splitting line from the top of the head to the center of the back, becoming adult cicadas. Then they survive by sucking tree sap for more than 70 days, after which they age and die. Adult cicadas and larvae are selective when sucking tree sap, mainly favoring poplar, paulownia, elm and fruit trees.
Cicadas live on trees for only about 3 months, so they need to mate and lay eggs as soon as possible. One male cicada completes its mission after mating with 5-8 female cicadas. Each female cicada can lay 800-1000 eggs. They often choose young branches 4-5 cm thick, first pierce the bark with the ovipositor, insert the ovipositor into the xylem of the young branch, creating claw-like egg holes, then lay eggs inside, arranged in single or double rows or a “Y” shape, then fly to another branch to lay eggs, until all eggs are laid, thus completing the mission. The laid eggs nourish inside the branch for 30-35 days. At this time the egg-bearing branch dries up, and the eggs also hatch into cicada ants, fall under the tree and burrow into the soil, suck the sap of tree roots, and begin underground life, and only after 4 years can they break through the soil and live above ground. This repeats cyclically, so cicada pupae emerge every year. According to nutrition experts, cicada pupae contain protein, a variety of essential amino acids for the human body, fat, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc and other nutrients, and eating them can improve human immunity.
Breeding Golden Cicadas Requires Good Disease Prevention
1. Nymphs after emergence (cicada turtles) and adults after eclosion have many natural enemies, such as toads, snakes, rodents, hedgehogs, wild cats, sparrows and mantises, all of which like to eat nymphs (cicada turtles), and microorganisms such as Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and entomogenous algae fungi (cicada flower) also cause parasitic harm. In addition, floods and pollution from pesticides and chemical fertilizers also cause relatively great harm to nymphs (cicada turtles) or cicadas, and attention and protection should be given during breeding.
2. The most important seasons are the egg stage on trees, the occurrence period of “cicada ants”, and the emergence period of fully grown nymphs. The natural enemies in the egg stage on trees and the cicada ant occurrence period are mainly ants and red minute flower bugs. Treatment measures are to soak and wash egg-bearing branches with 100-fold strong ammonia solution or to treat the soil with DDVP (organophosphorus insecticide), strong chlorinated disinfectant, etc.
Breeding Management of Golden Cicadas
After cicada eggs are buried underground, attention should be paid to drainage and flood prevention during the rainy season. In dry weather, water white willow, poplar and willow trees or apple trees. While watering, also apply farmyard manure to promote lush growth, provide sufficient nutrient sources for cicada larvae and young cicada monkeys, make the young cicada monkeys grow vigorously, increase individual size and raise yield. Strictly prevent trampling by people and livestock and harm from natural enemies such as ants and moles.
As mentioned above, golden cicada breeding still requires a certain amount of technology. Before breeding golden cicadas, read more related content about golden cicada breeding. You cannot prepare to breed golden cicadas blindly just after seeing the benefits of golden cicadas, as this often results in more loss than gain. The utilization value of golden cicadas is high, and golden cicada breeding is indeed a good breeding project.