Growing magic mushrooms is undeniably alluring to psychonauts and amateur mycologists alike, but how does one go about doing so from the comfort of their home? While there are numerous ways to get a mushroom grow started, few are more straightforward than taking a spore print.

With that in mind, read along as we detail exactly how to produce high-quality spore prints from which to start a flourishing Psilocybe cubensis mushroom grow.

What Is a Magic Mushroom Spore Print?

A mushroom spore print is a way of harvesting and “printing” the spores from mushroom fruit bodies onto a viable surface, so that these spores can later be used to grow magic mushrooms. Indeed, it’s from these tiny spores that magic mushroom mycelium grows, which then matures into the psychedelic mushrooms growers know and love.

Now, there are several intermediate steps that must occur for a spore print to produce viable mushrooms (more on this later), but it forms the basis of a successful grow, and allows for easy and long-term storage.

How Do Spores Work?

Just like plants release seeds, mushrooms release spores in order to propagate and continue the species. Once released, these spores spread via the wind and other creatures, eventually finding new homes and giving rise to more mushrooms.

Thankfully, humans can also take these spores and use them to grow mushrooms in their own home or garden.

When to Take a Psilocybin Mushroom Spore Print

Timing is crucial when it comes to taking a spore print, as mushrooms won’t release spores until they are nearing the end of their life cycle. Once the veil (the membrane on the underside of the mushroom cap) breaks, it will release viable spores that are perfect for taking prints.

You want to harvest these spores as soon as you can, within reason, as their viability will decrease over time. If the membrane is broken and exposed to the elements for a longer period, the threat of the mushroom and its spores becoming infected with pathogens is much greater.

How to Take a Spore Print

Now, to the meat of the matter—just how do you transfer those precious spores from mushrooms to secure vessels? Thankfully, the process is not very complicated, but it is absolutely essential to maintain a very high degree of cleanliness. Fail to do this, and you might as well not take spore prints to begin with.

Cleanliness Is Essential

We are not advising such a high level of cleanliness and sterility just for the sake of it. In an open environment, all sorts of fungi exist in the air around us, and taking a spore print in such an area will subject your spores to all manner of moulds and other nasties. As such, the process must be carried out in a sealed room in which you can ensure a higher degree of cleanliness. A bathroom can be a suitable space, as long as it’s been thoroughly sterilised. If a bathroom is not viable, do your best to choose a location that you can clean sufficiently and that experiences very little air circulation.

In addition to the environment, you, the grower, also present a threat to the viability of your spore prints. Make sure you shower, wash and cover your hands with gloves, and secure any hair as well. You may even want to wear a face mask while carrying out the process.

Equipment

• Magic mushrooms
• Sanitiser
• Alcohol gel
• Aluminium foil
• Scissors
• Sterile gloves
• Serving tray
• Glass jar
• Drinking glass (one per print)
• Tweezers
• Scalpel
• Zip-lock bags

Directions

1. Starting out in your sanitised space, place on your mask and make sure to sanitise your hands in alcohol gel before putting on your gloves.
2. Now, prepare your foil. Decide how many prints you will be taking, and cut two 10 × 10cm squares for each print. Place these in your glass jar, cover the jar with more foil, and put the jar in the oven at 250°C for one hour. This will sterilise the foil and ensure it’s ready to house your spores. Be sure to allow the foil to cool fully before use, lest you kill your spores on contact.
3. Now it’s time to sterilise all of your equipment. Use appropriate sanitising spray to sterilise the glasses, the tweezers, the serving tray, and any surfaces that have yet to be cleaned. For the scalpel, use the alcohol gel or a gas burner to sterilise it fully.
4. Now, use your sterilised tweezers to remove half of the aluminium foil pieces from the glass jar. Place them on your sterilised tray, shiny side up, allowing sufficient space between each one. Next, take your drinking glasses and place them upside down over the foil pieces.
5. Now is the all-important stage of taking the print itself. To do so, take your sterile scalpel and remove the mushroom cap from the stem, getting as close to the gills (from which the spores are dispersed) as possible, without compromising them. Working quickly but calmly, remove the drinking glasses from the foil pieces, one by one, and place each mushroom cap, gills down, onto the foil. Immediately replace the upside-down drinking glass. This environment provides the ideal humidity level for the spores to drop onto the foil, and helps to shield the mushroom caps from contamination. Now, you need to leave the spores to settle for around 36 hours. Ensure your caps won’t be disturbed or exposed to any extreme conditions.
6. Once this period has elapsed, it’s time to remove the caps from the foil. Before doing so, ensure everything has been sterilised once again, including you! Working one at a time, remove each drinking glass from the foil print and use your tweezers to very carefully pierce each cap and remove it. Make sure you don’t rip the foil or move the cap too much; it takes a careful touch. Now, return the glasses to their foil squares and let the prints dry for 24 more hours.
7. It’s finally time to prepare your spore prints for storage/use. Again, you must sterilise everything before taking this step. Once ready, use your tweezers to remove the remaining foil pieces from your glass jar. Now, remove the drinking glasses from each foil print, and use the remaining foil pieces to cover up your prints, with the shiny side facing up. Then, carefully, fold over the sides of the foil to create little spore print packages. Just make sure not to damage the integrity of the print itself!
8. All that’s left to do now is place each spore print package into individual clean zip-lock bags and label them clearly.

Essential Tips for Taking a Spore Print

As should be evident by now, the difficulty of taking a spore print has less to do with the nature of the steps themselves, and more to do with the need for exceptional cleanliness. While it might be a little time-consuming and monotonous to sterilise everything with each phase of the process, just know that you’ll be saving yourself lots of disappointment in the long run. With that in mind, allow us to offer some final tips on successfully taking spore prints.

• Your mushroom caps aren’t spent yet: After you’ve used your mushroom caps to take prints, they’re still viable to use for the future! So don’t toss them until you’re finished with your spore print creations.
• A flow hood or still air box are ideal: If you really want to maximise the sterility of your operation, consider using a laminar flow hood or glove box to ensure no errant spores from other fungal species come into contact with your mushroom caps.
• Use the freshest caps: If you have a variety of mushrooms to choose from, take caps from the specimens that have most recently produced spores. This increases the likelihood of a successful, uncontaminated mushroom grow.
• Aluminium foil is a time-tested option: In addition to aluminium foil, spore prints can be made using black/white paper or even glass slides. However, paper tends to degrade quickly and may not be viable for long-term storage, so aluminium foil is generally considered the best option for the price.

How to Store a Magic Mushroom Spore Print

Thankfully, storing spore prints is easy business. But you must ensure they remain in a place that is cool and, most importantly, dry. If spores are exposed to moisture, they will attempt to germinate, which will thwart the success of your grow. So keep them somewhere safe and with a lower humidity, and you shouldn’t run into any issues.

How Long Does a Spore Print Last?

Another benefit of spore prints is that, in the right conditions, they can last indefinitely. Though there is little information surrounding exactly how long spore prints remain viable, they certainly won’t spoil in a matter of months.

How to Use a Spore Print

Unfortunately, you can’t simply take a spore print and expect it to grow mushrooms like that. Instead, a spore print can be considered one of the initial steps in the mushroom growing process. Once the prints have been created, they need to then be turned into spore syringes, which are essentially just syringes filled with sterile water containing mushroom spores. From here, spore syringes can be used to grow mycelium on agar, which can then be added to another substrate to grow multiple flushes of potent psilocybin mushrooms.

Admittedly, mushroom cultivation is a bit of an involved process, but ultimately very worth it. It teaches you the importance of patience, cleanliness, and rewards you with psychedelic fruits. And it all starts with a spore print!