Making Spore Prints

Making Your Own

You can make your own spore print of a mushroom quite easily. This will show both the pattern of the gills as well as the spore colour. The one to the right was produced directly onto the scanners bed. This allowed me to scan it as if it was a normal picture. (Cleaning the scanner afterwards is another story!)

1 - Select your mushroom, preferably one that is fresh and undamaged. 2 - Decide whether the spore colour is light or dark. The colour of the gills may give you some clues. 3 - Select a piece of card, white or black depending on the selection as outlined above. Aluminium foil or a glass microscope slide work also work well. 4 - Remove the stalk from the mushroom and place it gill side down on the piece of card or foil. 5 - Place a jar over the top. This helps to keep it moist as well stopping any air movement dispersing the spores. 6 - Leave it for the print to form. For how long? It will depend on the mushroom species Try a couple of hours. If no suitable print is created, try again leaving it longer sometimes over night. 7 - If you wish to keep the spore print for any length of time, then seal it in contact plastic as used to cover text books. I have some which are over 8 years old which show no deterioration as yet