Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am currently growing bacteria that I collected from my house floor as well as the street floor in nutrient agar plates. Before collecting my data, I expected the bacteria colonies to be much easier to see and count. However, they turned out to be extremely hard to count without an automatic colony counter, which i cannot afford for the high prices. I researched for methods and apps that can help me record the number of colonies on my plates, but they did not work. I was instructed to organize my data and number of colonies into bar graphs and charts. How can I count the colonies? Please help!!!
Also, here is an example of what the colonies look like:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/y3TOZ_abECM/hqdefault.jpg

Hi aalee,

This will be difficult to do manually. Perhaps you could alter your protocol and reduce amount of bacteria you streak? Maybe this way you'll get a number of colonies you can count manually.

Hope this helps.

Peter S.