Butterfly Farming Techniques Explained: Environmental Management and Rearing Methods
Butterflies are a common type of insect with a very large number of variety differentiations. Different varieties are distributed across various regions of our country, and butterflies have a very beautiful appearance. There are now many butterfly gardens in our country for people to visit. This has also driven the development of the butterfly farming industry, and butterfly farming is an inevitable trend in our country as well. So how exactly should butterflies be farmed? Below, the editor brings you the butterfly farming techniques. Let's take a look!
1. Site Construction
Before farming butterflies, a good farming site must be selected. Butterflies are light-loving, so when choosing a farming site, choose a moist area with normal light, normal ventilation, and deep, fertile soil. Note that you must not choose areas where crops are grown, such as vegetable gardens and orchards. This is because butterflies will feed on pollen and the flesh of crops, which is very unfavorable to crop growth. After choosing the farming site, prepare rearing equipment similar to that used for silkworm rearing, control the height well, and enclose the surroundings and top of the rearing net shed with nylon netting to prevent the butterflies from escaping.
2. Seed Selection and Hatching
When selecting butterfly seeds, mainly collect butterfly eggs, pupae and adults in the wild, or you can also purchase them from specialized farming units and individuals. When selecting seeds, pay attention to the species and authenticity to avoid ones unsuitable for your own farming direction. If you catch them yourself, pay attention to pairing males and females, or choose ones that are in the egg-laying period. We can catch them according to the living habits of female butterflies; usually female butterflies like to lay eggs in the gaps of leaves, fruits and branches. After catching them, we should prepare an egg-laying site for the butterflies in the rearing room according to their living habits. During the egg-laying period, pay attention to humidity and cover appropriately with a wet cloth; when humidity is too low, the hatching rate will be reduced.
3. Planting Flowers
After emerging, butterflies mainly feed on pollen, so when hatching butterflies we should plant flowers appropriately in the rearing shed. Before planting, apply sufficient decomposed farmyard manure and compound fertilizer, and plow the soil deeply, keeping the deep plowing depth at about 30 cm. Let the base fertilizer mix fully with the soil. The flowers should mainly be of the Apiaceae family, keeping the flowers' pollen and nectar abundant. Provide sufficient food for the growth of the butterflies, ensure the butterflies lay eggs normally and prepare for the larvae to enter the soil and pupate, and prevent insufficient pollen and nectar from affecting the growth and reproduction of the butterflies.
4. Rearing Management
Butterfly rearing management is divided into larval and adult rearing. The feed of butterfly larvae is mostly based on the leaves, stems, flowers and fruits of plants. When feeding, you can collect them and put them together in a certain place for feeding. Control the rearing density of the larvae well; do not rear them too densely, because some varieties of butterflies are cannibalistic, and if reared too densely it may cause mass death of the larvae. When the larvae have grown for about a week, they can begin to pupate. After pupation, keep the objects to which the pupae are attached moist, and after a period of time they will break out of the cocoon. After becoming adult butterflies, provide enough food for the butterflies; the main food is water, honey powder and milk, etc., and adjust the feed appropriately according to the different varieties.
The above is a brief introduction to butterfly farming techniques. There is still great risk in butterfly farming now, because after farming there is no specific sales channel. If it is mainly for ornamental purposes, the butterfly garden's visibility is also insufficient, which may lead to farming failure. Therefore, everyone must consider carefully when farming and must not farm blindly. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for reading and supporting.