Okay, my memory is worse than I thought. I can't for the life of me remember where I saw those moreras (other than the ones in the walkway between Parque Oeste/Ikea). I am *almost* sure there are some in the Retiro... in the north part close to Calle del Alcalá. Maybe also in the Campo del Moro. If you do find leaves, you can (allegedly) freeze them for future use. The worms eat a freakish amount of leaves, if I remember correctly. If I see any, I'll grab leaves for you.
I think gross but cool sums it up well. A bunch of ours made it from worm to capullo to moth, to egg. Though I don't think the eggs ever hatched (or maybe we just didn't wait long enough). The moths are pretty strange looking and don't do much other than get it on, lay eggs and then die (Carpe diem--good lesson for the kids!).
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
OK, I'll look around the Retiro and see if I find some more. My colleague that gave me the worms (six of them) also brought me about 3-4 days supply of leaves which are currently in my fridge where they can be left for close to a week so I have a couple more days to look around and find a tree or two. They do eat a lot, almost constantly and it's pretty cool that if you put your ear close you can hear them eat, seriously! Munch, munch, munch. I've read that it takes about 10 months for the eggs to hatch, because they do it when spring comes around again and there are new leaves on the mulberry trees. We might try and wait and see if next spring we get a new batch, although with six worms I don't know what the odds might be that they all will live and that they're not all the same sex but I'm looking forward to the whole thing and the kids are thrilled and can't wait until Friday to see them. Stefan thinks they're gross and disgusting
Hey Lena-- I know it's too late for this batch, but I think that I found some moreras.... you know when you are coming up Calle Segovia and at the top of the hill (near la Cava Baja, but before you get to the Calle de Toledo) there's a Caja Madrid on the right side. The trees are right out in front. The leaves look just like moreras, though there's no fruit right now... I'm going to keep an eye on them. Apparently it's still silkworm season, because Christian saw a guy selling them outside of the Mercado de la Cebada the other day... just in case anyone wants to adopt the little capullos.
Posts: 1064 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
