Northern cordyceps becomes Du Hongwei's treasure for getting rich

Drying northern cordyceps

Du Hongwei shows the mature northern cordyceps

Through the film covering the square white plastic basins, one can clearly see the plump, tempting golden-yellow fungal bodies with little mushroom heads inside, straining to stretch their "waists"... On November 5, at Du Hongwei's home in Songhuangdi Village, Xiaonan Town, Diaobingshan City, I got a look at the real appearance of northern cordyceps. In Du Hongwei's more than 300-sq-m northern cordyceps cultivation room, 15,000 basins of northern cordyceps had reached picking season. The freshly picked northern cordyceps were sent into the drying room, and after 12 hours and then natural moisture rebalancing, they could be packaged. According to Du Hongwei, one production cycle of northern cordyceps is exactly 2 months, and can earn about 30,000 yuan.

In the picking room, Du Hongwei's wife Sun Yujie and 3 other neighbors were picking. Du Hongwei picked up a northern cordyceps and put it in his mouth: "Quite sweet. This is a fungus used both as food and medicine. Its medicinal and tonic effects are similar to those of Chinese caterpillar fungus, and its market prospects are very good."

Du Hongwei began growing northern cordyceps in 2008, investing more than 100,000 yuan, building 2 cultivation rooms, 1 drying room, installing a boiler and air conditioning, and also designing and building a large steam cooker for sterilization. He also had "financial luck": Du Hongwei's northern cordyceps growing project succeeded right from the "start." Du Hongwei said that artificially cultivating northern cordyceps is not complicated. Wheat grains are used as the culture medium, and the steps are divided into wheat grain sterilization, film covering, strain injection, cordyceps harvesting, and drying. But in the whole process, "being attentive" is most important. The temperature in the cultivation room must be controlled between 15-23°C, and watering is done once a week. Ensuring the temperature, humidity, light, and ventilation for the fungal seedlings at each growth stage is key. If any link has a problem, it will affect the quality of the northern cordyceps.

In the cultivation room, the northern cordyceps cultivation basins were stacked in rows, with row spacing of more than half a meter, and a fluorescent lamp was installed every 2 m between the rows. Because northern cordyceps grows toward light but is most afraid of ultraviolet rays, the cultivation room cannot have direct sunlight, so fluorescent lamps become a necessary condition for the growth of northern cordyceps.

"Growing northern cordyceps does not tie a person down. Four crops can be grown a year. Daily care and harvesting are concentrated in just a few time periods, and it does not affect other farm work. Every harvesting season, the neighbors all come running to 'earn extra money.'" Du Hongwei grows cordyceps while also doing transport, and his wife is responsible for field farming. A year brings nearly 200,000 yuan in income, and life is prosperous and sweet.

Talking about future plans, Du Hongwei, who has already mastered mature techniques and market sales channels, wants to make this industrial project bigger, implement factory-style production, improve the quality of northern cordyceps, strive to establish a cooperative, organize villagers to work together as a group, and let northern cordyceps become the villagers' treasure for getting rich.