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KenInVic
Hey Bulldog



Registered: 03/01/16
Posts: 1,452
Loc: 3rd Stone from the Sun
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Spore Slide Prep
#23643183 - 09/13/16 09:54 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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I have only recently acquired a compound microscope and want to venture deeper into the art of mushroom ID. Raw noob, so be warned.
Are spores best dry mounted or wet mounted for viewing under a microscope? What magnification ranges are actually of any use for spores? I have 40X, 80X, 100X, 200X, 400X, 800X, 1000X & 2000X available. (1000 & 2000 are oil immersion).
Is there a tek for making a slide permanent?
-------------------- ***My SGFC*** ***ID Mushrooms Here*** Pondering the question, "Are we all here, because we're not all there?"
"Because something is happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones." Ballad of a Thin Man by Mrs. Zimmerman's little boy, Bobby.
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ToxicMan
Bite me, it's fun!


Registered: 06/28/02
Posts: 6,722
Loc: Aurora, Colorado
Last seen: 5 hours, 35 minutes
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Re: Spore Slide Prep [Re: KenInVic]
#23645827 - 09/14/16 09:08 PM (7 years, 4 months ago) |
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Water is the most commonly used mounting fluid, and what you should use most of the time.
Melzer's is used the second most often, to determine if the spores are amyloid, inamyloid, or dextrinoid. Unfortunately, Melzer's is difficult to obtain and becoming more difficult.
Cotton Blue in lactic acid (or lactophenol) is also widely used, especially for ascomycetes.
For measurement 400x is adequate, but I usually use 1000x oil immersion. Also, you need to be using 1000x with oil to verify if a spore is smooth. You can often see that they are spiny or warted at lower magnification, but you need at least 1000x to verify that one is smooth.
There are several mounting mediums that will allow you to make a permanent slide. Canada Balsam is the traditional one. Most permanent mounting mediums require that the specimen to be mounted is completely dry, usually accomplished by immersing the specimen in various solvents such as absolute ethanol or xylene. If you want to do that, do some searches on the Internets and see what you can get most easily.
-------------------- Happy mushrooming!
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