spore prints.... when is the best time?

[archaicrevivalist]

hi all.....

was just wondering if you can take spore prints from dried out mushrooms that have been sitting around for a while?

or is it just fresh ones that can be used?

sorry for being a total noob, but im really new to this........... and an unfortunate past few months has thrown me round quite a bit, it's only now that i can get back on this pony that i have been trying to get going for so long...

thanks all...

peace and chaos

[Ace]

First up, this info is bound to be in older threads, so it'd be best to first check via the search engine.

Secondly, only fresh mushrooms tend to drop reasonable spore prints. Older/drier specimens tend to drop none due to either the lack of spores, the death of the fruit (mushroom), or the spores getting stuck and dried to the gills (or possible all three or more reasons). As soon as a *fresh* mushroom is picked, it should be printed (UTSE for printing teks). This is useful for both ID and for propagation.

Hope this helps a little.

P.S. if you have a bag of edibles that have been stored dry for a while, there may have been some spores dropped in the bag or on whatever they were sitting on. From here you may be able to start a culture after an agar clean up, but it will be a little harder than a slightly more sterile print.

[genki]

im sure i remember someone once talking about making a crude spore slurry by finely grinding up a dried mushroom cap and adding water then using that to innoculate subtrate but i cant remember how it turned out or where i read it.

[XipeTotec]

genki may have been refering to this...someone here spoke of powdering old dry caps, and using to inoculate woodchips outside(by just chucking them around, and watering, or was it a slurry??).... took 2 seasons to fruit though..(this info may also be useful for another thread currently being discussed)

Edited January 18, 2008 by XipeTotec

[incognito]

heeaps of info on shrromery.com and here man.

utse on both shroomery and here and u will have all z info u will need.

plus any publication by stamets u can get ur hands on.

generally younger the cap, less spore has been dropped.

[archaicrevivalist]

thanks alot everyone....

it's all coming together now.

the edible mushrooms my friend can get his hands on are most prob a bit too old....

i might have to head to the store for some fresher ones...

[AndyAmine.]

I hear one can usualy get a light print from a dried cap by dripping a few drops of water onto the top, then placing it on a plate under a glass for a day or 2.

This works even better by putting it into a really humid atmosphere, like maybe a large bowl wiht some water in it, then a tea saucer in the middle wiht a plate over the top.

[Hyphal]

If one has access to dried material and agar plates, then it should be reasonably easy to take a small gill fragment and get that going on agar also.

[archaicrevivalist]

thanks all.......

very useful advice, andy and hyphal, cheers.

someone told my friend that proper sterile procedures are not necessary for prints, but my friend believes otherwise.... and so he will be exercising the most anal sterile procedures he can

'

thanks again

[maincloner]

Sharing a teck that was learned long ago before named prints and syringes were on the market and no governmental controls existed in my country.

Gather dried horse manure, it works better than cow for some reason, place wet in pint or quart jars and autoclave for 45 minutes. Cool and use very sterile techs during the cooling process to the inoculation process.

Basically place small gill pieces they are covered with spores on a spot on the sterile dung. Incubate and some of your jars should have clean mycellium running. Make your choice of strain of strains and repeat the process. Soon you will have a sterile strain or strains that you may place on agar.

Also a very prolific substrate with a low contaminate ratio after inoculation compared to grains.

Use gloves and safe handeling of the substrate as before it is autoclaved it harbors bacteria that if absorbed through bare skin can cause problems.

Edited January 19, 2008 by maincloner