Spore prints are used for three main purposes: mushroom cultivation, mushroom identification (as different mushrooms have different colored spores), and, of course, art.
Making spore prints is not only an easy, fun way to get to know mushrooms but also a very cheap way to cultivate more mushrooms at home.
For mushrooms with gills (spores lie on the gill surface) and mushrooms with pores (spores inside the pores underneath the cap), follow these instructions.
Cut off the stem and place the cap, with the gills facing down, on a piece of aluminum foil, a white piece of paper, an index card or a glass microscope slide.
Put a drop of water on the top of the cap to help release the spores.
Cover the cap with a paper cup or glass and leave for 2-24 hours, depending on the humidity and the freshness of the mushroom. The spores will fall on the paper, foil or glass, making a spore print pattern.
If you don't want to separate the cap from the stem, make a hole in an index card, place the card on a paper cup and slide the stem of the mushroom through the hole until the underside of the cap is resting on the card; then proceed as above.
If the mushroom is hard, it is more difficult to obtain spore prints. Some polypores not only take a long time to mature and produce spores but also can often live a long time after they’ve produced and dispersed their spores. Try wrapping them in wet paper towels or newspapers overnight before putting them down on foil, paper or glass to make a spore print. Note that the spore bearing surface always faces down toward the ground as the polypore grows.
To study the spores with a microscope, scrape off some of the spores from your spore print with a needle or scalpel onto a microscope slide. Place a drop of water on the spores and cover with a cover slip.
To preserve your spore print, spray them lightly with an artist spray or hair spray. Hold the spray at least 12 to 15 inches away from the print.
Put a drop of water on the top of the cap to help release the spores. Cover the cap with a paper cup or glass and leave for 2-24 hours, depending on the humidity and the freshness of the mushroom. The spores will fall on the paper, foil or glass, making a spore print pattern.
Cover the mushroom with a bowl (to stop it drying out and to reduce air currents that might spoil your print by blowing the tiny spores around). 3. Leave everything where it is for at least 2 hours or longer (overnight).
Although the spore print is generally used to help identify the genus of a specimen, on occasion it can be used to help distinguish between similar species. For example, the lookalikes Russula crustosa and Russula virescens have yellowish and white spore deposits, respectively.
For white-spored mushrooms use black paper or clear plastic or glass. If you intend looking at the spores under a microscope, then whatever colour the spores are making the spore print on a microscope slide or (better still) a slide cover slip is ideal.
Take the stems off the mushrooms using your hands or scissors. Place the mushrooms with the gills or pores facing down onto the paper. Then place the container over the mushroom to create an airtight seal. Leave the mushrooms covered anywhere from a couple hours to overnight based on how fresh the mushrooms are.
Such a collection of Russula spore prints is more precise than any printed colour chart and can be very useful as the prints of many species are of subtly different shades. The colours will fade a little in a few years but can easily be replaced with new samples.
Maintaining the ideal humidity is perhaps the trickiest part of making spore prints. Dry mushrooms won't give a good spore print, but wet ones can make a sloppy mess. If you put a small mushroom on a piece of paper and cover it with a large bowl you may end up with a shrivelled cap and no spore print.
Once you have a spore print (by following the instructions above) you can then use it to cultivate and grow your mushrooms. This can be done by creating a spore syringe, where the spores are re-hydrated using sterile water and then used to inoculate the growing medium.
Please Note: Lion's mane mushroom spores are white and hard to see. They form whisps of spores on the tinfoil due to the nature of the mushroom and its shape.
5. Lift the jar and remove the mushroom to reveal your mushroom spore print! Allow it to air dry for two hours before storing it in a safe dry place. You can also fram the spore prints in a frame as art.
Remove the stem of the specimen and place the cap of the mushroom on the spore print card with the gills (or pores) facing downward. Cover it or leave it undisturbed overnight and compare the colour of the resulting print with descriptions in your field guide.
Typical spore count tests involve the heating of a reconstituted powder sample to 80°C for 12 min before cooling, culturing and enumerating colonies (Frank and Yousef, 2004; Watterson et al., 2014).
Then, to make a spore syringe, scrape the spore print into a glass with sterilized water and pull the solution into a syringe. After you have created a spore print, you can save it for later use, make a spore syringe, apply it to an agar solution or create a liquid culture.
If working with a reusable inoculation loop, heat the inoculation loop red hot in the flame of an alcohol lamp and let it cool down in your hand. Do not touch the spore print, inoculation loop or agar medium. Now rub the spore print until the whole loop has gathered some spores.
Making spore prints is rewarding to do with kids and some prints are even pretty enough to frame! Spores are the reproductive structures of all mushrooms and can be any color, including white, cream, yellow, green, purple, brown, rust, or black.
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