Silkworm food

[speedreader]

Hi all,

I got some silkworms for my Ts, but can't seem to identify any Mulberry trees in California.

Can somebody help out?

 

[bugmankeith]

White Mulberry (favorite)
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/moal.html

Red Mulberry
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/moru.html

 

[Drachenjager]

Hi all,

I got some silkworms for my Ts, but can't seem to identify any Mulberry trees in California.

Can somebody help out?

do you need mulberry leaves?

 

[speedreader]

Drachenjager, yes i do.

Just can't seem to find/identify mulbery in Bay Area of CA.

 

[Drachenjager]

email me
i have a mulberry tree i can gt you some off of

 

[speedreader]

Drachenjager,
your email isn't available according to your profile. If you don't mind mailing a few leaves to Ca, that would be sweet.

 

[speedreader]

Drachenjager is sending me leaves, so I should be fine if that works.

Thanks all.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dear Speedreader:

Since finding silkworm food has been a problem you may decide to grow your own...and I have some here right now.
They are "Hybrid mulberries v. "Silkworm Bonsai.""
Although my hybrid mulberries are dwarfed and in pots
cuttings will turn into trees if they are planted outdoors soon after their roots are well developed. However,even if you wish to plant your silkworm food outdoors unrooted cuttings need to be started in pots because both the unrooted cuttings and their soil MUST be kept MOIST:
even when active growth indicates root formation they should be "hardened off" by progressive removals of their transparent protective covering(s) until none of their leaves become "droopy" while they are "outside."

If you keep them in pots their limited root systems will need to be kept moist ALL the time:I use deep saucers that I "top up" for that purpose.

Hybrid mulberries tend to grow "redundant" branches.
These may be pruned to feed your silkworms.
However,you may have to freeze and/or dry mulberry leaves if you decide to feed them in winter because even
my smallest potted specimens maintain winter dormancy.

At $25 for a boxfull I think they're a steal.

Yours very truly,
Louise Esther Rothstein
crystalfan2912@yahoo.com

 

[speedreader]

Thanks Louise.
My p. cambredgei seems to really like silkworms so I will prob-ly take advantage of your offer in the future, when I move to NY. I don't really want to buy anything larger than a tarantula, :hint hint:, until then due to cumbersome transportation and such.
Bonsai mulberry sounds freaking awesome though.

 

[bugmankeith]

There are huge white mulberry trees here so whenever I ordered silkworms I would go outside and pick fresh leaves each day, saved me alot of money since white mulberry is the silkworms favorite mulberry.

I linked a guide to red and white mulberries for you in my 1st post.

 

[speedreader]

Thanks bugmankeith, but I just couldn't find any trees like that near my house . Hopefully Drachenjager can get the leaves for me. Otherwise, I will just overfeed my two larger Ts.

 

[bugmankeith]

Silkworm chow is sold, it's pre-made silkworm food. Just buy that and feed the silkworms it.

Mulberry Farms has plenty of it!

Scroll down this page and look for "pre made silkworm chow"

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/orders.htm

 

[Drachenjager]

i got you some leaves sending out tomorrow

 

[crashergs]

DUDE!!!!

WWW.MULBERRYFARMS.COM


These people are phenomenal!!!!! Tell them mario from geek squad sent ya!

i have like gallons of pre maid show because i get their silkworms for my bearded dragon every week.

 

[speedreader]

i only have 3 worms left now and leaves to feed them. When I made the original post, my point was - "I need free food now so that I can feed all those worms."
All is cool now.