How silk cocoons are raised
A single cocoon is one unbroken thread, and it takes about 5000 silkworms to make enough for a silk kimono.
- stations
- 4
- things downstream
- 3
The short version
Silk cocoons come from caterpillars of the mulberry silkmoth, raised indoors on a diet of mulberry leaves. After several moults each caterpillar climbs onto a twig and spins a cocoon from one continuous filament of silk protein. The farmer collects the cocoons before the moths can chew their way out.
-
Hatch the eggs
A female silkmoth lays 300 to 500 eggs. They hatch into tiny caterpillars, the silkworms, which are kept in trays and begin eating almost at once.
-
Feed on mulberry leaves
Farmers feed the silkworms mulberry leaves, and the worms grow quickly through several moults. To make 1 kg of silk, 3000 silkworms must eat 104 kg of leaves.
104 kg of leaves per 1 kg of silk
-
Let them spin cocoons
After the fourth moult each worm climbs a twig placed nearby and spins its cocoon. The thread comes from two glands in the head and is one continuous filament, made of the protein fibroin and glued with a gum called sericin.
-
Collect the cocoons
The cocoons are gathered while the pupae are still inside. Keeping the cocoon intact is what allows the filament to be unwound later as one unbroken length.
Worth repeating
- It takes about 5000 silkworms to make enough silk for a pure silk kimono.
- Silk is reeled, not spun: the cocoon's filament comes off in one continuous length.
- A ceramic piece shaped like a silkworm, found in Hebei and dated to about 5400 years ago, is the earliest known evidence of sericulture.
Where it comes from
Share of world silk production as given in the Wikipedia silk article (no year given).
Where it goes next
Silk cocoons feeds 1 line directly and reaches 3 things in total.
Further down the line
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How silk cocoons are raised." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/silk-cocoons