Key Technical Points for Artificial Breeding of Golden Cicadas, Investment Costs, and Per-Mu Income Analysis

Golden cicadas are particularly rich in nutrients, and in many places they are served as a famous dish, with delicious meat. Golden cicadas also have significant medicinal value, which has directly led to the rapid rise of golden cicada breeding projects. So what are the key technical points for artificial breeding of golden cicadas? How much money is needed to invest? How much can be earned per mu?

I. What are the key technical points for artificial breeding of golden cicadas?

1. Egg collection

Egg collection is carried out after golden cicadas lay eggs in autumn, generally around the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The golden cicada inserts the small spike at its tail into a one-year-old tender branch and lays eggs inside the branch, mostly on succulent branches such as fruit trees. After laying, the branches usually dry up, so most branches that are green at the lower end and withered at the tip contain cicada eggs. For egg collection, you can choose an ideal location with dense trees and many cicadas, use fruit branch shears or a long pole with a hook at the tip to cut down the withered branches with golden cicada eggs from the trees, tie 50-100 of them into a small bundle, and place them in a plastic bag for later use.

In addition to collecting cicada eggs naturally, you can build a gauze-net greenhouse to provide space for adult insects to lay eggs. You can use fruit trees in abandoned orchards, replant fruit tree seedlings, set up fences around them with cement posts or bamboo poles, stretch wire between them, and cover the outside with nylon window screen. Put captured adult insects inside to mate and lay eggs, and afterward you can retain the number of adults as needed, with no need to collect seed stock from the wild again.

2. Post-collection handling

After collecting branches with cicada eggs, remove the dry leaves, cut off both ends, tie 30 into a bundle, spread a layer of sand on the bottom of a large laundry basin, stand the bundled branches upright in the basin, keep the temperature at 28-34%, and maintain moisture by spraying whenever dry, using a sprayer aimed at the branches until they are sprayed thoroughly wet.

3. Hatching

Place egg-bearing branches collected directly from the wild or from a seed stock site together in a hatching shed to promote hatching. Hatching method: in a plastic box 70 cm long, 40 cm wide, and 20 cm high, spread fine dry sand 5-10 cm thick on the bottom, place the egg branches in bundles upright or horizontally on top, continuously spray fine mist with a small sprayer to maintain high humidity in the air around the egg-bearing branches, so that excess water droplets are absorbed by the fine sand at the bottom. During this period, continually spot-check the hatching of the eggs; when nymph activity is found, the branches together with the fine sand can be placed in the breeding site. Larvae hatch in about 15 days. At this time you will see some larvae crawling up and down on the branches. When about 20% of the larvae have hatched, they must be buried. Choose an area with many fine soft hair roots for the burial pit so that the larvae can absorb nutrients from the roots; it is best to choose woodland with loose soil.

4. Seeding

The objects for seeding are newly hatched nymphs and eggs close to hatching. The soil should be non-sandy, non-compacted, free of ants and moles, and loose and moist loam; you may also choose a place where many cicada nymphs emerged the previous year as the site for burying egg branches.

The seeding time is generally September-October (two-year eggs) or June-July (eggs of the current year). On the ground under the host plants in the breeding site, about 1 m from the base of the trunk, dig regular narrow trenches about 30-50 cm deep. Dig the pits in strips, with the depth mainly reaching the many hair roots, and the width of one shovel. Place the branches with hatched larvae into the pits along the trench, and the larvae will cling to the plant roots by themselves. When returning the soil, do it gently and slowly, and after returning the soil do not step on it, let alone water it, so as to preserve air permeability. After seeding, cover with soil and press firm, and keep records of the time, quantity, trench shape, and depth.

5. Supply high-quality feed

Choose healthy tree species with well-developed root systems, vigorous growth, and abundant sap, such as fast-growing poplar, elm, willow, paulownia, or various fruit trees in orchards. In addition, interplant some root and tuber crops, such as potato, sweet potato, and Chinese yam.

6. Provide good environmental conditions

For the “seeding” of the cicada, a depth of 30-50 cm is suitable. It should face the sun and be protected from freezing, and the soil should be soft, fertile, and pollution-free; it should not be too dry, nor should the water content be too high or waterlogging be present, so as to ensure normal growth and development of the host plant roots, making them young, tender, well-developed, and juicy. In winter, cover the seeding area with wheat straw, rice straw, corn stalks, etc., to maintain ground temperature.

7. Breeding management

After cicada eggs are buried underground, pay attention to drainage and waterlogging prevention during the rainy season. In dry weather, water white willow twigs, poplar and willow trees, or apple trees. While watering, also apply farmyard manure to promote lush growth and provide sufficient nutrient sources for cicada larvae - young cicada nymphs - so that the young cicada nymphs grow vigorously, increase in size, and raise yield. Strictly prevent trampling by people and livestock and damage from natural enemies such as ants and moles.

8. Harvesting

Two to three years after burying the egg branches, the cicadas begin to gradually grow, develop, and mature. The harvest period is generally around the Summer Solstice each year. If there is soaking rain, plump and strong nymphs begin to emerge from the ground at 4-5 a.m., or after the rain clears, the nymphs use a pair of saw-like front legs to dig out of their holes in the wet, soft soil. After crawling out onto the ground, they move briefly on the surface, then climb tree trunks or frames to prepare to molt. After 2-4 hours they shed their shells and become cicadas. Based on this characteristic of the golden cicada, after the Summer Solstice each year, if there is no rain and drought, you can artificially water the breeding site thoroughly to induce the cicadas to emerge. Before the cicadas emerge, or before the cicadas mature, you can tie a ring of smooth plastic film around the trunk 30 cm above the ground so that the cicadas cannot continue climbing up the tree, making harvesting easier. You can also use a flashlight for illumination and search for and catch them at night on the ground under the trees and on the trunks. Or catch the tender adult cicadas that have eclosed on the trees in the early morning.

II. How much does golden cicada breeding require to invest? How much can be earned per mu?

Based on putting 800 egg strips per mu, with a yield of about 200 jin per mu, and calculated at a market price of 30 yuan per jin, an income of six to seven thousand yuan per mu is no problem.

In addition, if the semi-natural golden cicada breeding technique under trees is adopted, the golden cicada growth cycle can be shortened from the previous 3 to 5 years to about 24 months, increasing golden cicada yield and obtaining more income.