Reclaiming Bacteria Off of Agar Plates

[Jordan Gottlieb]

Hi all...

When getting bacteria out of suspension, you spin 'em down and remove
the supernatant.  Voila... bacteria.

Does anyone out there have a good way of getting bacteria off agar
plates?  Currently, I'm just soaking the plate with 5 mL of dH2O for 5
minutes, and then using a pipet to force as many bacteria off the agar
as I can.

I realize I may not be able to say that I get 100% of them, but if
anyone knows of any good techniques, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.

-Jordan Gottlieb
jsgottli at unccsun.uncc.edu