Stains for Beginners

General mountant solution – for spores, tissues, etc

I’ve found that a mixture of 80% water/20% glycerol works very well as a general mountant as it doesn’t dry out as quickly as water (or 3% KOH or Ammonia) which is especially useful for beginners. You can also add a tiny amount of washing up liquid to it to help break the surface tension and reduce bubbles.

Coverslip: Placing the coverslip on carefully at an angle and then lowering slowly using forceps or a cocktail stick also reduces trapped bubbles.

Staining: Once you have looked at a gill edge or section using water (or 80/20 above), you can stain the same tissue by placing a drop of Congo Red at the edge of the coverslip so it is drawn in by capilliary action. Using a small piece of tissue to draw water out from the other side of the cover slip will speed up the movement of Congo Red under the coverslip. Leave for a minute or two and then observe. You can remove excess stain by repeating the process above using water to “wash” the specimen. This will give you a clearer image.

Congo Red in water is definitely my first choice for basidia, etc.. You are very welcome to buy them here

Congo Red http://www.micro-science.co.uk/congo-red-10ml.html” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.micro-science.co.uk/congo-red-10ml.html

Melzer’s Reagent http://www.micro-science.co.uk/melzers-reagent-10ml.html” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.micro-science.co.uk/melzers-reagent-10ml.html

Hi

For general staining Basidia, Cystidia etc. You could also try PlaqSearch by TePe It comes in 30 ml dropper bottles and is available from a well known on-line supplier

It works very well as long as your sections are not to thick and you do not leave them soaking in the stain. It appears to randomly stain different tissues different shades making them stand out really well. If you leave the sections in the stain too long it stains everything the same colour and is less effective.