Silkworm chow

[Dave85731]

Does any one know if this silkworm chow recipe is legit??

• Weigh out 29 ounces (822.15 grams) of mulberry leaves.
• Weigh 28 ounces (793.8 grams) of soy flour.
• Measure 6.1 ounces (172.935 grams) of maize/corn meal.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Does any one know if this silkworm chow recipe is legit??

• Weigh out 29 ounces (822.15 grams) of mulberry leaves.
• Weigh 28 ounces (793.8 grams) of soy flour.
• Measure 6.1 ounces (172.935 grams) of maize/corn meal.

Where did you get that from?

I've asked Coastal Silkworms what is in their chow and they told me dried mulblerry leaves and soy meal. It is imperative to cook raw soy thoroughly, by the way.

 

[Dave85731]

Where did you get that from?

I've asked Coastal Silkworms what is in their chow and they told me dried mulblerry leaves and soy meal. It is imperative to cook raw soy thoroughly, by the way.

I just googled it..all the info on here has no recipe

 

[jajeanpierre]

I just googled it..all the info on here has no recipe

I'm confused. What do you mean, "all the info on here has not recipe"?

I called Coastal and spoke to them and asked them what they put in their chow. I was most concerned to know if they added vitamins. They told me dried mulberry leaves and soy meal. No vitamins as far as I could gather.

 

[Dave85731]

I was saying I searched on here and found no ingredients for the chow so I googled it and found the one I posted but so far no answer if this thing is legit but I was wondering as well about vitamins you would think there should be some since the leaves are dried out

 

[jajeanpierre]

I was saying I searched on here and found no ingredients for the chow so I googled it and found the one I posted but so far no answer if this thing is legit but I was wondering as well about vitamins you would think there should be some since the leaves are dried out

Plain Milberg leaves would be the best with nothing added. You would have to research how to dry or freeze them do no loss of nutrients.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Plain Milberg leaves would be the best with nothing added. You would have to research how to dry or freeze them do no loss of nutrients.

Sorry. Auto correct on my phone. MULBERRY leaves.

 

[Dave85731]

Yea i tried that blanching thing then freezing but the leaves dry out within minutes I don't know if that's normal tho

 

[Chameleon Mike]

I'm sure this would work for mulberry leaves. Right?

 

[Dave85731]

Yea that's what I did... I did some as a test run and when I thawed them out they dried completely within a few minutes I wasn't sure if that's normal tho.... they did eat them tho

 

[Chameleon Mike]

I guess it worked then. Good job. I'm sure it's fine that they dried out. The process is to keep the vitamins and flavor in the leaves.

 

[Dave85731]

Oh ok I guess I'll be good then I'm trying to find a way to prepare for winter I'm starting to breed them so I was doing tests now lol... I have so many mulberry trees around that I can freeze lbs and lbs lol

 

[Vanjan]

Back to the chow recipe:
I ordered 100% mulberry powder from South Korea on Ebay. About 20USD for 300g.
I cooked it like normal chow 1 part powder, 3 part water. After a couple of days my 3rd instar worms started to die off rapidly so i stopped giving them this powder and went to fresh leaves. I lost about 25% of the colony in two-three days.
The powder was smelling like green tea... should have been more careful.

 

[Dave85731]

Maybe it does need some kind of vitamins.. I'll do a test run with the recepie I got and see if I have any luck

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Agar agar would help in gelatinizing the finished product, so it can be cut up into cubes or shaved with a cheese grater.

 

[Decadancin]

Agar agar would help in gelatinizing the finished product, so it can be cut up into cubes or shaved with a cheese grater.

That may be a better solution then soy or corn meal for those who want to be non-GMO.

 

[Dave85731]

So would I use the same measurements just with agar?

 

[Decadancin]

So would I use the same measurements just with agar?

I haven't tried this, but you would probably have to experiment a little bit. Sounds like a cool alternative though!

 

[Dave85731]

Haha yea it won't hurt to test it on a few worms... So what's wrong with the soy and corn meal tho?

 

[Zen Reptiles]

You still want to use soy and corn in order to provide nutrients. With those, there's no need to add multivitamins as the amino acids and proteins in the soy+corn will be more than enough to grow a nutritious silkworm.

You will not need to add as much agar as all the other ingredients, maybe 1/4 as much. Experiment a little to get the ratio right - also, agar can be expensive so you don't want to waste it if you don't have to. Amazon has best pricing I've found.