Brix Level Testing
Hello! There’s been some nice buzz in the flower farming world about the use of brix (sugar) measurements to help evaluate the health of plants and predict their susceptibility to pest pressure.
Brix measurements have been used for a long time in the fruit industry to determine ripeness. Kyle, who joined our team this season as a farmer and IPM consultant, has experience with taking Brix measurements for a winery.
So we asked Kyle to weigh in on 2 different kinds of Brix measurement tools and show us how they work. Note: this post is only about using these tools to take measurements. We’ll address what those measurements mean and how you might use them in a future post.
First- it’s important to know that a few factors can impact your brix readings.
Time of Day: You’ll want to choose the same time of day to take your readings in order to get a sense for changes in your plants. Brix readings that are taken at the end of the day will have higher readings because the plants have been photosynthesizing throughout the day and have collected all their sugars for the day. So if you take a reading in the morning and you feel the level is low, you shouldn’t necessarily be alarmed. The best window of time to take a reading is 11am-4pm.
Temperature: The brix scale is based on measurements taken at 68°F (20°C). We can correct for measurements taken at a different temperature using a scale. We’ll talk about this in the next post about brix measurements.
THE TOOLS:
The first device is an analog tool (manual) (~$20 USD)- the kind of tool Kyle used at the winery. Brix meters should come pre-calibrated to you. But if you want to check the calibration for this tool, test the tool with clean, distilled water that is at the same temperature as your tool. remove the rubber screw cover.
The second is an digital brix measurement device (~$80 USD). I favor this tool for it’s clear display, consideration of temperature, and smaller sample requirement.
We also use a garlic press, a small dish, the pipettes that came with the tools to help pull moisture from leaves for the readings, a piece of organza to use as a screen, and soft cleaning towels.
After trying both devices myself, I prefer the electronic Brix meter. It requires substantially less liquid (and fewer pressed leaves) to take readings. It’s easier on my hands— the garlic press takes a lot of hand strength to capture the extra liquid needed for the analog device. The digital device is also easier to read.
We’ll share soon how to interpret your plants’ Brix level readings, what they say about your plants and how you might use that info to make changes to your growing practice.