Ten key points to note when raising silkworms in summer and autumn

Speaking of silkworms, everyone is actually quite familiar with them. I think many people, like the editor, had the experience of raising silkworms as children, except back then we just raised them for fun, as a beautiful childhood memory. But many people rely on raising silkworms to get rich.

Ten points to note when raising silkworms in summer and autumn

1. Prevent pesticide poisoning. During the silkworm rearing season, do not spray organic chlorine pesticides such as dimehypo on farmland near the silkworm room; their fumigation effect will cause silkworm poisoning. Mulberry leaves fed to silkworms must be test-fed to confirm they are non-toxic before leaves are picked to feed the silkworms. 

2. Do not use mosquito coils or mosquito-killing or insect-killing agents inside the silkworm room. If used in living quarters adjacent to the silkworm room, the doors and windows of the silkworm room must also be closed to prevent silkworm poisoning. 

3. The silkworm room should be fitted with screen doors and screen windows to prevent flies from entering the silkworm room and harming the silkworms, and add “miecanying” (silkworm fly killer) emulsion or spray it on the silkworm bodies to kill fly maggots. 

4. Before raising silkworms, plug rat holes, keep a certain distance between the silkworm racks and the walls, and scatter lime powder or silkworm medicine around the feet of the silkworm racks to prevent rats from climbing up. For raising silkworms on the ground, do a good job of rodent control with medicine. 

5. Summer and autumn silkworm rearing temperatures are relatively high, so open doors and windows and strengthen indoor ventilation. Spraying mulberry leaves with clean water and using an electric fan indoors to blow a gentle breeze also help lower the indoor temperature. 

6. Diseased silkworms found should be cleaned up promptly and put into a disinfection basin containing bleaching powder solution or lime slurry. Do not feed diseased silkworms to livestock and poultry, to prevent the spread of pathogens and environmental contamination. 

7. Silkworm droppings contain large amounts of pathogens. Do not spread them out to dry around the silkworm room; they should be gathered in the field for composting or placed into a manure pit to compost, to prevent the spread of pathogens. 

8. In the high temperatures of summer and autumn, pathogens reproduce quickly, so pay attention to picking leaves as needed, transporting leaves promptly, and storing leaves reasonably. The leaf storage pond should be disinfected once at each instar, and do not feed overnight mulberry leaves. 

9. In hot and humid weather, avoid feeding wet leaves. Do not sprinkle water on stored mulberry leaves. Remove droppings frequently and spread more fresh lime powder, dry straw and other materials to inhibit the breeding and reproduction of pathogens. 

10. Outside the silkworm rearing season, do not store grain, bran and other items in the silkworm room, to avoid moisture causing mites, which will harm the silkworms during rearing.

Preparatory work before raising silkworms  

1. Planting mulberries: The silkworm feeds on mulberry leaves, so before raising silkworms you must plant mulberry trees well. For mulberry planting techniques, please read the article “Mulberry Planting Technique Video”; the editor will not repeat it here.  

2. Silkworm room: Raising one sheet of silkworms requires a large silkworm room of 20 sq m, a small silkworm room of 10 sq m, and a dedicated leaf storage room, etc., to help prevent disease.  

3. Silkworm tools: including thermometers, silkworm trays, plastic film, silkworm nets, square cocooning frames, silkworm chopsticks, goose feathers, mulberry cutting knives, chopping boards, mulberry shears, black cloth, etc. Raising one sheet of silkworms requires 16 to 20 silkworm trays, 160 to 200 square cocooning frames, and 14 small silkworm nets.  

4. Disinfection of the silkworm room and silkworm tools: 7 days before rearing silkworms, after cleaning the silkworm room and silkworm tools thoroughly, spray and disinfect with disinfectant essence or 1% bleaching powder or strong chlorine essence solution, using half a jin of medicinal solution per sq m. After spraying, close the doors and windows and seal for more than 24 hours, and at the same time spray and disinfect the surrounding environment of the silkworm room.

Methods for hatching silkworm eggs  

1. Incubation: Around the eighth day after the silkworm eggs are taken out of storage, a small black dot can be seen at one end of the silkworm egg, called the blue-point stage. When 20% of the eggs in one sheet of silkworm eggs show blue points, cover them with black cloth to block light. Counting from the day blue points appear, remove the black cloth at 5 o'clock on the morning of the third day, and turn on the light to induce hatching.  

2. Collecting newly hatched silkworms: After 3 to 4 hours of light exposure, at around 8 to 9 o'clock in the morning, the newly hatched silkworms can be collected. Lower the room temperature to 24°C, and raise the temperature after collecting is finished. The method for collecting newly hatched silkworms is to cut the first unfolded fresh tender leaves that have turned yellow-green into small squares of 0.5 cm, and scatter them on a silkworm tray lined with plastic film. The amount of leaves used should not be too much, generally about 5 times the amount of newly hatched silkworms. Use the tapping method: flatten the silkworm egg paper by hand, hold silkworm chopsticks and tap evenly and forcefully on the back of the silkworm egg paper, so that the newly hatched silkworms fall onto the silkworm tray, then use a goose feather to scrape the newly hatched silkworms and arrange them into a circle or square, and they can then be fed leaves. Before the second feeding of leaves, use “Small Silkworm Disease Prevention No. 1” to sprinkle a thin layer for silkworm body disinfection, and only feed leaves after 10 minutes.

Our country can be said to be a major silkworm-raising country, and our country's breeding history is also relatively long, so our country can also be considered a country rich in silkworm-raising experience. Breeders can exchange and learn from each other's good experience and methods.