CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What are the seasonal issues in silkworm rearing? (English: What are the seasonal issues in silkworm rearing?)

1. Which season is suitable for raising silkworms?

Spring or Summer

Answer 1. Silkworm rearing time: Generally, silkworm rearing takes place in spring and summer (starting around April). Silkworms mainly feed on mulberry leaves, so silkworm rearing needs to be basically consistent with the growth cycle of mulberry trees, so that there are enough mulberry leaves for silkworms to eat. 2. Silkworm rearing frequency: In Jiangsu and Zhejiang silkworm regions, silkworm rearing can be carried out theoretically from April to November each year, but generally only 3-5 times.

2. What is the season for raising silkworms?

1. Silkworms are usually raised in spring and summer, which is roughly the same as the growth cycle of mulberry trees, to ensure sufficient supply of mulberry leaves. Prepare food: Mulberry leaves must be washed with clean water and dried before feeding. Do not feed silkworms with yellow and rotten leaves, otherwise the silkworms will be poisoned or have diarrhea. In order to prevent the excess leaves from wilting quickly, put them in a plastic bag, tie the bag tightly, and place it in a cool place.

2. Feed the silkworms with leaves 4 times a day, early in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, and at night. The amount should be appropriate each time to avoid waste. You can put more leaves at night because the silkworms eat mulberry leaves all night. Ant silkworms should be fed with young leaves, and the leaves are best cut into pieces or strips.

3. Clean up the feces and leftover leaves frequently: When changing leaves for the silkworms, you can directly cover the old leaves with new leaves, and remove the old leaves after the silkworms have crawled onto the new leaves. This can reduce the casualties of the silkworms and facilitate the removal of leftover leaves and silkworm feces.

4. Do not spray pesticides in the silkworm room as this will harm the silkworms.

3. What should we pay attention to when raising silkworms?

Summer and autumn silkworm breeding should pay attention to

1. Prevent pesticide poisoning. During the silkworm-raising season, do not spray organic pesticides such as dimethoate in the silkworm room and the fields near the mulberry fields, as the smell will cause poisoning to the silkworms; mulberry leaves should be fed to the silkworms only after they have been tested and confirmed to be non-toxic.

2. Mosquito-repellent incense or mosquito repellent or insecticide is prohibited in the silkworm room. If it is used in the house near the silkworm room, the doors and windows of the silkworm room should be closed to prevent the silkworms from being poisoned.

3. Screen doors and windows should be installed in the silkworm room to prevent flies from entering the room and harming the silkworms, and "silkworm fly killing" emulsion should be added or sprayed on the silkworm bodies to kill the maggots.

4. Before raising silkworms, rat holes should be blocked, silkworm racks should be kept at a certain distance from the wall, and lime powder or silkworm medicine should be sprinkled around the legs of the silkworm racks to prevent rats from climbing up. When raising silkworms, drugs should be used to kill rats.

5. In summer and autumn, the temperature is high when raising silkworms. Open doors and windows to increase indoor ventilation. Spraying mulberry leaves with clean water and using electric fans to blow breeze indoors can also help cool down the room.

6. If sick silkworms are found, they should be cleaned up in time and placed in a disinfection basin filled with bleach solution or lime slurry. It is forbidden to feed sick silkworms to livestock and poultry to prevent the spread of pathogens and pollute the environment.

7. Silkworm feces contain a large amount of pathogens. Do not spread them out to dry around the silkworm room. Instead, compost them in a pile outdoors or in a manure pit to prevent the spread of pathogens.

8. In summer and autumn, the temperature is high and pathogens multiply quickly. Pay attention to picking leaves on demand, transporting leaves in time, and storing leaves properly. The mulberry pool should be disinfected once for each age, and do not feed mulberry leaves overnight.

9. Avoid feeding wet leaves in hot and humid weather. Do not water the stored mulberry leaves. Remove sand frequently and sprinkle more fresh lime powder, dry straw and other materials to inhibit the growth and reproduction of pathogens.

10. When it is not the silkworm-raising season, do not store grains, bran and other items in the silkworm room to avoid moisture and the generation of mites, which will harm the silkworms during breeding.

Additional information:

Five common misunderstandings about the use of drugs in silkworm rearing In recent years, many silkworm farmers have used excessive and unconventional drugs in the prevention and treatment of silkworm diseases, which has resulted in drug poisoning of silkworms and aggravation of the disease, causing unnecessary losses in silkworm production. The author introduces the five common misunderstandings about the use of drugs in the silkworm rearing period as follows for reference by silkworm farmers.

1. The misunderstanding of using drug carriers is to spray silkworm medicine on mulberry leaves to add food to silkworms. Mulberry seedling planting technology and mulberry tree disease and insect pest control should be sprayed (sprinkled) on silkworm bodies, silkworm seats, and silkworm webs, which should be determined according to the disease type and drug type. But the actual situation is that drug carriers are often confused. For example, "Fangjiangling No. 2" is often sprayed on mulberry leaves by some silkworm farmers as a food drug, which often leads to poisoning and death of silkworms. And "Chloramphenicol for Silkworms" and "Kanjun Bacteria" that should be used to add food are often used on silkworm bodies, which is not only ineffective but also misses the best time to prevent and control silkworm diseases.

2. Misunderstandings in drug selection Some silkworm medicines are quite similar in appearance and color, and are often used incorrectly. "Big Silkworm Disease Prevention No. 1" and "Small Silkworm Disease Prevention No. 1" are only one letter different, both are bagged powders, but the concentration of the active ingredient - formaldehyde is significantly different, the former is 2.5%, and the latter is 1.25%. If they are used in reverse, it will cause drug damage to small silkworms and poor effect on large silkworms. According to the Agricultural and Forestry Network, "Fangjiangling No. 2" and "Mi Canfei" are often mixed because of their similar colors. More silkworm farmers do not know the efficacy of silkworm medicines and cannot choose the right medicine when selecting. What's worse, because they think the medicine is not strong enough, they mix and use multiple silkworm medicines, which actually promotes chemical reactions between the medicines, making the silkworm medicine lose its original efficacy and even causing drug damage. For example, "Fangbing No. 1", "Mi Canfei", "Fangjiangling No. 2" and other alkaline drugs such as lime powder should not be mixed at the same time.

3. Misunderstandings about the timing of medication. For example, when using lime powder during the dormancy period, there is no time distinction. Some people use it until the late dormancy period, causing the silkworms to molt half or not at all. "Anti-rigidity powder" works best when used before feeding at the beginning of the instar, but some silkworm farmers use it at the end of the instar when the silkworms are about to dormancy.

Fourth, the misunderstanding of the dosage of medicine is often manifested in insufficient dosage, excessive dosage, insufficient or too frequent dosage. For example, the dosage of "Ultra-Clean" fumigant used in the young silkworm stage is confused with the dosage used for disinfection before silkworms are killed, and 5 grams are used per cubic meter of space instead of 1 gram. In addition, when preventing and treating silkworm fly maggot disease, some people use "silkworm fly killing" once in the fifth instar of silkworms and think that it is enough, resulting in countless maggot holes and silkworms when collecting cocoons.

5. Mistakes in drug preparation: Drug preparation is based on guesswork and the concentration of the original drug is not taken into account, resulting in a high or low concentration. For example, when preparing bleaching powder to prevent stiffness, the effective chlorine concentration should be 2% for young silkworms and 3% for adult silkworms. However, in the prevention and control of silkworm diseases, the phenomenon of excessive effective chlorine concentration causing poisoning and death of adult silkworms occurs in almost every region and every season.

4. What is the general season for raising silkworms?

Silkworms are usually raised in spring and summer. The growth cycle of silkworms should be roughly the same as that of mulberry trees to ensure an adequate supply of mulberry leaves. Silkworms are metamorphosed insects, and the most common one is the mulberry silkworm, also known as the domestic silkworm, which is one of the economic insects that feeds on mulberry leaves and spins silk cocoons.

1. Spring silkworm rearing Spring silkworm rearing is characterized by mild weather and good leaf quality. The cold weather in winter kills some pathogens, the environment is clean, and silkworm rearing is easy to obtain high-quality and high-yield. However, the temperature is often low during the young silkworm period, which does not meet the requirements of young silkworm rearing and requires heating. The probability of high temperature and sultry weather in early June is high. Therefore, spring silkworms must be raised as much as possible to achieve high-quality and high-yield; spring silkworm rearing should not be too late to avoid bad weather in the later stage; at the same time, dark fire heating should be implemented during the young silkworm period. The amount of spring silkworm rearing can be estimated by using 650~700g (buds and leaves) of mulberry per box of silkworm seeds to estimate the number of silkworm seeds that can be reared.

2. Summer silkworm rearing The characteristic of summer silkworm rearing is that the rearing period is often the plum rain season in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang silkworm areas, which easily forms a hot and humid silkworm rearing environment. Mulberry trees are mainly used for the sparse buds and leaves that grow again after summer felling, and some of the mulberry leaves that are cut in spring or the remaining leaves during the spring silkworm period are also used. The use of summer leaves combined with sparse buds and leaves is conducive to maintaining a good tree shape. Due to the high temperature and humidity, the rearing is difficult and the quality of the cocoons is poor. Therefore, summer silkworm rearing should be properly controlled. Generally, the leaves should not exceed 4 or 5 leaves at the base of the new shoots grown after summer felling. If you raise two-stage autumn silkworms or only one-stage autumn silkworms, the rearing time should be appropriately postponed.

3. Raising silkworms in early autumn

(1) The characteristics of early autumn silkworm rearing are that the natural environment is in the season with the highest temperature in the year, prone to drought and changeable. During this period, other crops are frequently treated with insect pests, which can easily cause pesticide poisoning. It is the period of the year with the worst safety for silkworm farming and the worst cocoon quality.

(2) The mulberry leaves used for early autumn silkworms are mainly the lower leaves of mulberry branches. The appropriate use of some leaves can promote the continuous growth of branches and help improve the leaf quality of mid-autumn silkworms. However, if the leaves are excessively picked, it will inhibit the normal growth of the mulberry tree, which will inevitably affect the feeding of mid-autumn silkworms and the production of spring leaves in the following year.

4. Mid-Autumn Festival Silkworm Raising The characteristic of Mid-Autumn Festival silkworm raising is that although the natural temperature begins to drop, it still exceeds the suitable temperature range for silkworm raising. Mulberry tree growth reaches its peak. If there are consecutive high temperature and drought years, the mulberry leaves will age; if early autumn silkworms are not raised, the lower leaves will turn yellow; Mid-Autumn Festival is also a season when mulberry tree diseases and insect pests are prevalent. In some years, insects need to take away leaves, so it is a period of poor leaf quality.

5. Late autumn silkworm rearing is characterized by a significant drop in temperature, especially in the late nights when the temperature is often too low; the quality of mulberry leaves is improved due to the use of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the amount of rearing should be determined according to the situation of the remaining leaves after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Late autumn is the last period of the year. Due to the accumulation of pathogens and the large temperature changes caused by continuous silkworm rearing, silkworm diseases are often prone to occur. At least 3 or 4 mulberry leaves should be left on the branches after the leaves are harvested in late autumn to prevent the winter buds from sprouting in autumn and affecting the yield of spring leaves in the next year.

5. How to raise summer and autumn silkworms in batches reasonably?

In summer and autumn, the temperature is high, there is a lot of rain, the weather is changeable, and the pathogens accumulated from the previous batches of silkworms make it easy for silkworms to get sick. However, as long as the disease prevention measures are effective and implemented, silkworm diseases can still be controlled.

How to batch feed:

Eliminate sick and weak silkworms. If you are raising young silkworms together, you can raise them in batches every 10 days. If you raise them yourself, you should raise them in batches every 20 days. Once you find thin and small silkworms, late-sleeping silkworms with wrinkled and dull skin, and silkworms that do not sleep, you should eliminate them in time. If you see sick and dead silkworms, pick them out immediately and put them in a lime jar. When the silkworms are 1-4 years old, use fresh lime powder or disease prevention No. 1 to disinfect the silkworm bodies and silkworm seats every day. The silkworm seats should be properly sparse to avoid increasing the temperature of the silkworm seats.

Issues to note when raising summer and autumn silkworms:

(1) Select and raise superior silkworm varieties. Choose strong silkworm varieties that have strong vitality and can withstand high temperatures and humidity.

(2) Raise silkworms in reasonable batches. In addition to summer silkworms, autumn silkworms can generally be reared 2 or 3 times, but there should be at least a half-month interval between each period to facilitate disinfection and disease prevention.

(3) Strictly disinfect and prevent diseases. We should ensure that “disinfection is strict before silkworm rearing, disinfection is frequent during the silkworm rearing period, and disinfection is strict after the silkworm rearing period ends”.

(4) Establish a mulberry garden dedicated to young silkworms. Strengthen the fertilization and management of the mulberry garden, apply fertilizer in time after summer felling, pay attention to the combination of harvesting and raising silkworms in autumn, and apply fertilizer once for each silkworm raising to meet the needs of mulberry tree growth and development, and strive to improve leaf quality.

(5) Strengthen feeding management. Select mulberry for young silkworms and feed them when they are ripe but not too tender. Feed them sparsely and let them eat wet leaves skillfully. Expand the silkworms frequently and in advance. During the adult silkworm period, we should focus on the "three sparseness", that is, sparse silkworm nests in the silkworm room, sparse silkworm plaques on the silkworm nests, and sparse silkworm heads in the plaques. We should also pay attention to providing mulberry for them and feeding them sparsely to ensure that the silkworms are fully fed.

Do a good job of sleeping and waking up, strictly promote young silkworms in batches, and insist on eliminating weak silkworms.

6. Can we still raise silkworms in summer, autumn or winter?

Yes. Silkworms can be raised all year round in the south, but not in the north. They can only be raised in the summer in the north because it is too cold in the north and mulberry trees cannot grow. Things to pay attention to when raising silkworms in summer and autumn: 1. Prevent pesticide poisoning. Do not spray organic pesticides such as insecticides in the silkworm room and farmland near the mulberry field during the silkworm raising season. The smell will cause poisoning to the silkworms; mulberry leaves must be tested and confirmed to be non-toxic before feeding silkworms. 2. Mosquito-repellent incense or mosquito repellents and insecticides are prohibited in the silkworm room. When used in a house near the silkworm room, the doors and windows of the silkworm room should also be closed to prevent poisoning of the silkworms. 3. Screen doors and windows should be installed in the silkworm room to prevent flies from entering the silkworm room and harming the silkworms, and "silkworm fly killing" emulsion should be added or sprayed on the silkworm body to kill fly maggots. 4. Before raising silkworms, rat holes should be blocked, and the silkworm racks should be kept at a certain distance from the walls. Lime powder or silkworm medicine should be sprinkled around the feet of the silkworm racks to prevent rats from climbing up. When raising ground silkworms, drugs should be used to kill rats. 5. In summer and autumn, the temperature for silkworm rearing is high. Doors and windows should be opened to strengthen indoor ventilation. Spraying mulberry leaves with clean water and using electric fans to blow breeze indoors are also conducive to cooling the room. 6. If sick silkworms are found, they should be cleaned up in time and put into a disinfection basin containing bleach solution or lime slurry. It is forbidden to feed sick silkworms to livestock and poultry to prevent the spread of pathogens and pollute the environment. 7. Silkworm feces contain a large number of pathogens. Do not spread them around the silkworm room for drying. They should be concentrated in the wild for retting or put in a manure pit for retting to prevent the spread of pathogens. 8. In summer and autumn, the temperature is high and the pathogens reproduce quickly. Pay attention to picking leaves on demand, transporting leaves in time, and storing leaves reasonably. The mulberry storage pool should be disinfected once for each age, and do not feed mulberry leaves overnight. 9. Do not feed wet leaves in hot and humid weather. Do not sprinkle water when storing mulberry leaves. Remove sand frequently and sprinkle more fresh lime powder, dry straw and other materials to inhibit the growth and reproduction of pathogens. 10. When it is not the silkworm-raising season, do not store grains, bran and other items in the silkworm room to avoid moisture and the generation of mites, which will harm the silkworms during breeding.

7. What issues should we pay attention to when raising silkworms in summer and autumn?

1. Do a good job in disinfection and disease prevention

Because the interval between silkworm breeding in summer is short, pathogens are fresh and large in quantity, and are easy to infect, we should pay attention to environmental sanitation and thoroughly disinfect the silkworm room and silkworm tools. You can first spray disinfectant, then clean and wash them. When spraying, pay attention to the dosage and spray all the surfaces. Strictly implement the "three disinfection principles" (that is, thoroughly disinfect before silkworm breeding, continue disinfection during silkworm breeding, and disinfect immediately after silkworm breeding), and carry out disinfection and disease prevention throughout the entire silkworm breeding process.

When harvesting leaves for summer silkworms, attention should be paid to the safe interval of pesticide application. Mulberry leaves from areas where pesticides are applied must be harvested and fed after the residual period has expired. Only after they are proven to be non-toxic can leaves be harvested for feeding. Summer silkworms should be protected from flies and rats to avoid losses.

2. Adjust the room temperature for silkworm rearing

According to the characteristics of summer climate, take corresponding measures to adjust and improve the silkworm breeding environment. In hot and humid weather, pay attention to ventilation, and cool down and moisturize when it is hot and dry. Plastic film can be used to cover the young silkworms, which can keep warm and moisturize, which is conducive to the healthy development of silkworms. In the adult silkworm period, choose a tall, spacious and well-ventilated house to prevent stuffiness. Plant trees and build a pergola around the silkworm house to reduce radiation.

3. Do a good job in mulberry leaf management

The quality of mulberry leaves is directly related to whether the summer silkworm harvest is good or not. We should strengthen the fertilization and pest control of mulberry trees to promote the growth of mulberry trees. During the silkworm stage (1 to 3 years old), it is key to pick the leaves that are ripe, with the color being pure green and soft to the touch as the standard. When collecting mulberry leaves for ants, you should choose mulberry leaves that are ripe and tender, and avoid using leaves that are not exposed to enough sunlight, old leaves, wilted leaves, diseased and insect-infested leaves, and mulberry leaves contaminated by pesticides. The leaves for summer silkworms should be picked in the morning before the dew dries or in the evening. Leaves must not be picked in the middle of the day (except on rainy days). The picked mulberry leaves should be picked and transported quickly to prevent the mulberry leaves from emitting moisture and withering. Pay special attention to not stacking mulberry leaves too high or too thick to prevent them from rotting.

4. Do a good job in feeding management

First, the transportation of silkworm eggs. When transporting silkworm eggs, do not pile them up or pile them up, and try to avoid contact with high temperatures. The transportation of silkworm eggs should be carried out in the morning and evening, and they should be spread out in time after being brought back to prevent accumulation and heating. When distributing silkworm eggs, try to do it in the morning and evening. Silkworm eggs should not come into contact with pesticides and all harmful gases to prevent silkworm poisoning.

Second, feed the young silkworms. Plastic film can be used to cover the silkworms. Silkworms grow and develop quickly, so the area of ​​silkworm seats should be expanded in advance to prevent them from being crowded and hungry. Disinfect the silkworm bodies and silkworm seats with fresh lime powder or 2% effective chlorine anti-stiffness powder every day. Add 500 times diluted silkworm disease sterilization spirit, Yijiling, and Kejunxing to feed the young silkworms when they wake up. Use 0.3% effective chlorine to soak or spray the leaves for disinfection, dehydrate, and dry them before feeding them.

Three-catch adult silkworm rearing. During the period, three sparse should be achieved: the silkworm racks in the silkworm room are sparsely connected, the silkworm foils on the silkworm racks are sparsely placed, and the silkworm heads in the silkworm foils are sparsely placed. This is conducive to ventilation, lowering the temperature, and ensuring that the silkworms are fully fed. During the adult silkworm period, especially during the hot and humid period, the silkworm litter should be removed frequently to keep the silkworm seats clean and dry. During the adult silkworm period, labor-saving silkworm rearing should be implemented. During the adult silkworm period, 300 times the liquid of fly-killing tablets should be sprayed on the silkworm bodies and 500 times the liquid should be added to the food to prevent maggots from harming them.

Fourth, cluster management. In order to reduce labor costs, it is advisable to adopt automated clustering technology. The specific method is: when the silkworms develop evenly and 5-10% of the silkworms are mature, use 4-6 pieces of Chuanto per silkworm seed and mix 20-30 catties of mulberry leaves with cold boiled water (4-6 pieces with 1-1.5 catties of water), feed the silkworms at 10-12 o'clock in the evening, and no longer feed mulberry leaves. At 10-12 o'clock in the morning the next day, sprinkle some straw or silkworm nets on the silkworm seat, and place plastic clusters or square clusters on the silkworm seat to let the mature silkworms automatically cluster and cocoon. After clustering, strengthen the ventilation and dehumidification of the cluster room (use electric fans to dehumidify if conditions permit), so that the cluster room, cluster tools, and environment are dry, improve the yield and quality of silk cocoons, and ensure stable and high yields of summer silkworms.