cell counting - to get an impression when my cells are in the log phase (May/21/2010 )

do i have to count my cells for a few intervals, to get an impression when they are in the log phase...?

how this should be handled? do i have to trypsinate my cells to get them suspended??

is it that important to know the exact initiation of the log phase - the log phase lasts for hours or days - or no???

how this is normally done?

thx for any suggestions

To do this you need to do a growth assay of some sort. Lifting and counting wells at defined time-points of a plate seeded at a starting density is one way to do this. Other ways are MTT and/or DNA content assays, which can be done in 96 well plates.