A fun, easy, and educational activity
Autumn is a great time to go mushroom hunting with the arrival of the season’s rain showers. If you’re keen to identify those species you find, it’s helpful to know the color of their spores.
If you would love to learn to identify and even possibly consume wild mushrooms, then making a print in order to determine their spore color is an essential activity to complete. Making spore prints is rewarding to do with kids and some prints are even pretty enough to frame!
White spores on black paper
Spores are the reproductive structures of all mushrooms and can be any color, including white, cream, yellow, green, purple, brown, rust, or black. They are produced by the gills and released from them by the millions when the mushroom is mature. They are then blown away by the wind and settle in a new location to begin a new generation in the life cycle of the mushroom.
Mushroom life cycle
- Cut off the stem from a fresh specimen that has been open for less than two days.
- Set cap over adjacent black and white papers (this is because the spores may be black or white, thus wouldn’t show up if you chose just one of these paper colors.
- Cover mushroom cap with a sturdy box in order to increase humidity and prevent air currents from displacing the spores.
- After 24 hours, remove the box and the mushroom cap. Your spore print will be visible on one of the two pieces of paper.
- Once you have determined the spore color and which color of paper shows them off the best, you may want to repeat this process with that color of paper and a fresh mushroom cap in order to make a beautiful spore print suitable for framing!
Download my one-page cheat sheet (as seen below) on how to make a mushroom spore print.
DOWNLOAD MY PARTS OF A MUSHROOM GRAPHIC
CLICK HERE to download a handy handout of the parts of a mushroom that I designed for you!
Learn More About Fabulous Fungi
Christine with Lion’s Mane and Lobster mushrooms
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A mushroom spore print
FAQs
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.
What paper is best for mushroom spore prints? ›
To make a spore print you will need a mushroom with a cap, one piece of white paper, one piece of dark colored paper (black works best), a cup or something similar to cover the mushroom cap, and a safe dry place to set it. find a mushroom with a cap.
How to make mushroom spores at home? ›
How to Extract Spores From Mushrooms. Remove the stem from a fresh mushroom, then put the cap gill side down onto a piece of paper or sterilized tin foil. Put a drop of water on the cap, then cover it with a bowl and let it sit for 24 hours. Remove the bowl and cap to reveal your spores.
Why make a mushroom spore print? ›
The spore print is the powdery deposit obtained by allowing spores of a fungal fruit body to fall onto a surface underneath. It is an important diagnostic character in most handbooks for identifying mushrooms. It shows the colour of the mushroom spores if viewed en masse.
Why no spore print? ›
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.
How do you make mushroom spore prints? ›
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.
What is the best medium for spore prints? ›
Lay the cap of the mushroom with the gills upside down onto a piece of paper. For the majority of specimens, a normal sheet of white paper works fine. However, some mushrooms have white spores- so if you are taking prints for the purposes of identification, you might want to consider also getting some black paper.
How do you seal a mushroom spore print? ›
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.
How long does it take for a mushroom spore print? ›
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).
Can you inoculate with spore prints? ›
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.
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.
What does a mushroom spore print tell you? ›
In addition, they use a number of tests proven to narrow down identity- like taking a spore print. A mushroom's spores can be white, brown, black, or even violet. “For some choice edible mushrooms you're looking for whether the mushrooms spores are white versus any color other than white,” says Wheat.
What is the difference between a spore and a print? ›
Spores may be collected from a spore print, which is a powdery imprint left on a surface by the spores of a mushroom. Spore prints are an important field mark for identifying mushrooms, as their colors can help distinguish between species. A mushroom releasing spores.
What paper is used for mushroom substrate? ›
Toilet paper, although not very rich in nutrients, can support the growth of an incredible mushroom...the oyster. This mushroom can grow on a wide variety of substrates like paper, cardboard, coffee grounds, straw, sawdust, and logs (just to name a few).
How do you preserve spore prints on paper? ›
To preserve your spore print, spray them lightly with an artist spray or hair spray.
What is mushroom paper? ›
This can give them texture, strength, and other properties (for example, comparing foil to printer paper), but nowadays we can use mushrooms which can be a good substitute for wood for paper making. The mushroom paper differs from ordinary paper in that chitin fibers are used instead of cellulose.
