A wet mount is the simplest way to look at spores: a drop of liquid, a cover slip and a microscope. Done well, it takes about two minutes. Done badly, you spend twenty minutes staring at bubbles. This is how to do it properly.
What you need
- A microscope reaching at least 400x (see our magnification guide)
- Plain slides and 22 x 22mm cover slips
- A spore source: a spore syringe or a spore print
- Clean water (distilled is best) and a disposable pipette
- Optional: a methylene blue staining kit and lens cleaning paper
Step by step
- Clean the slide. Hold it by the edges. Fingerprints and dust show up as blobs at 400x.
- Add one small drop. From a syringe, a single drop is plenty. From a print, put a drop of water on the slide and touch a small amount of spore dust into it with a clean needle or scalpel tip.
- Lower the cover slip at an angle. Touch one edge to the drop, then lower it slowly. This pushes air out ahead of the liquid instead of trapping it.
- Blot the edges. If liquid has run out the sides, touch a corner of tissue to the edge. A slide that floats on excess liquid will drift as you focus.
- Focus at low power first. Find the edge of the cover slip or a speck at 40x or 100x, then move up to 400x. Spores are only a few microns across, so empty-looking fields are normal until you reach the right depth.
- Adjust the light. Close the diaphragm a little. Spores are translucent and show better with more contrast than you would expect.
Common problems
- Too many spores: a dense carpet of them is hard to examine. Use less, or dilute with a drop more water.
- Air bubbles: perfectly round, dark-edged circles. Remake the slide with a slower cover slip angle.
- Nothing visible: check you have focused on the sample rather than the glass, and that your drop actually contained spores.
- Everything moves: tiny jittering is Brownian motion and is normal. Drifting in one direction means too much liquid.
For finer detail, try a drop of stain. Read our methylene blue staining guide. Use a fresh slide for each sample and clean your optics afterwards.
Browse everything in our slides and stains range, or the full lab and microscopy section.
Our spore syringes are sold for microscopy and research only. Growing mushrooms that contain psilocybin is illegal in the UK. This guide is general information, not legal advice. You must be 18 or over to buy from this shop.
