How to Get Spores

Collect mushroom spores to grow your own mushrooms.

Mushrooms and ferns are plants that have been around since prehistoric times. They don't produce seeds but reproduce via microscopic spores, which are released into the air at the proper time. Spores can be easily collected, then painstakingly cultivated to produce a new crop of ferns or mushrooms.

Things You'll Need

• Clear plastic bag
• Twist tie
• Clean sheet of white paper
• Small, shallow box

Instructions

Ferns

1. Select a healthy frond with spore casings on the underside. Spore casings, or "sori," are tan-to-brown-colored bumps on the underside of the frond that contain the fern's reproductive spores.

2. Slip a clear plastic bag over the selected frond. Secure the bag to the base of the fern frond using a twist tie.

3. Tap and shake the bag and the frond inside the bag until the spores fall out of their casings. Rub the casings with your fingers to help release the spores.

Mushrooms

1. Put a clean piece of white paper into a small, shallow box.

2. Select a fresh, firm, healthy mushroom. Twist its stem to remove it from the cap.

3. Place the cap, gill side down and curved cap side up, on the paper in the box.

4. Place the box in a cupboard or other protected location to keep it away from any airflow that could blow away the spores. Wait two or three hours for the mushroom cap to release its spores. They will be visible on the paper after they're released.

Tips & Warnings

• Some mushrooms have light-colored spores. If you can't see any spores on the white piece of paper, repeat the process using dark-colored paper so the light-colored spores will be visible.

References

• University of Washington: Plant Propagation Protocol for Cystopteris fragilis
• Austin Community College: Miscellaneous Collecting and Preserving Methods
• Wed Net: Mushrooms