Brix!!! who has used a refractometer?!

[GMO]

Word up growtribe

As chad has mentioned many times in the past, Brix is super trendy and if anyone caught my last post from AEA "Why insects do not (and cannot) attack healthy plants" due to leaf brix. The tool has come up again in my interest area

So im looking for people with HANDS ON EXPERIENCE using a refractometer and gauging plant leaf brix to measure photosynthesis. I guess the taboo is that brix isnt only sugar but IS majority sugar and that its just a snap shot of the area you test and only for the moment you are testing

So with this in mind.... what are peoples experience measuring brix and using it to indicate if difference treatments, amendments or feedings are effective or detrimental. Has anyone managed to achieve a leaf brix of 12+ or more ideally has anyone reached a leaf brix of 14? if yes, what media was this achieved in and were there any specific conditions that you believe helped achieve the higher brix?

Looking forward to all input. cheers tribe

[Ghost_In_A_Jar]

The only time I’ve used a refractometer was when I kept marine fish. Pretty simple device for that as you just drop a bit of water on the plate and look through the eye piece to read the graph/number.

[duke]

Word up growtribe

As chad has mentioned many times in the past, Brix is super trendy and if anyone caught my last post from AEA "Why insects do not (and cannot) attack healthy plants" due to leaf brix. The tool has come up again in my interest area

So im looking for people with HANDS ON EXPERIENCE using a refractometer and gauging plant leaf brix to measure photosynthesis. I guess the taboo is that brix isnt only sugar but IS majority sugar and that its just a snap shot of the area you test and only for the moment you are testing

So with this in mind.... what are peoples experience measuring brix and using it to indicate if difference treatments, amendments or feedings are effective or detrimental. Has anyone managed to achieve a leaf brix of 12+ or more ideally has anyone reached a leaf brix of 14? if yes, what media was this achieved in and were there any specific conditions that you believe helped achieve the higher brix?

Looking forward to all input. cheers tribe

hi gmo i bought a brix meter a decade ago and still have it,never use it anymore due to my small scale drobe growing and i found it took a great effort to get enough juice out of a small plant without mutilating them i tried many ideas but found it just to difficult with small sample sizes ,on the odd occasion when topping a plant or shortening a long stem one can collect a good sample of the sap and test it that way,tbh it was £60 wasted re weed growing but i did use it for the garden plants/veg and bonsai(even harder getting a sample) so its been relegated to the top of the drobe for about 5 years though still as good as new,never managed a reading with weed over 10 brix no matter what and imo the plants used was as tip top healthwise as is possible indoors in a small drobe leading me to doubt either the quality of the sampling or accuracy of the meter,so if anyone wants a refractometer pm me and a small donation to sussex pet rescue its yours!
my eyes are my judge now and sticking with a known tried and tested strain and nutrient seems to work mostly ok,in coco of course im shite at mud grown weed!

[2-Scoops]

Can you not just use your eyes and if plant is nice, green and happy then sugars would be more or less bang on if testing with a Brix meter. I've never seen a need to use one because i think its really a pointless bit of kit if you've got healthy looking plants or not so healthy as well tbh.

[GMO]

@duke 60 is a bit of a sting and tbh even 5 years ago a decent one was still about that cost. it seems like the low end now sit around 20£ mark so its really tempting for the sake of having tried it my self. but i do take your experience as cannabis really isnt a juicey plant to easily leaf brix test

@2-Scoops this is for kinda taking it one step beyond. like we know plants dont see light how we do and need umol rather than lumens, this is a measure of how well plants are photosynthesizing at a given moment and measuring the level of sugars in the plant tissue to evaluate IF a treatment/feed/environment change has had an beneficial or detrimental effect much faster than the typical 1-7 days and if its worth continuing or changing the treatment/feed/environment change

[duke]

@duke 60 is a bit of a sting and tbh even 5 years ago a decent one was still about that cost. it seems like the low end now sit around 20£ mark so its really tempting for the sake of having tried it my self. but i do take your experience as cannabis really isnt a juicey plant to easily leaf brix test

@2-Scoops this is for kinda taking it one step beyond. like we know plants dont see light how we do and need umol rather than lumens, this is a measure of how well plants are photosynthesizing at a given moment and measuring the level of sugars in the plant tissue to evaluate IF a treatment/feed/environment change has had an beneficial or detrimental effect much faster than the typical 1-7 days and if its worth continuing or changing the treatment/feed/environment change

hi yes it was a costly present from my tina after reading about brix in high times mag back in the day,one thing i did find sort of worked sometimes was using a garlic crusher/press type thing but even then it takes about 6 leaves taken from different spots on plant to get enough juice for a reading,strange thing is on tomatoes and spuds its easy getting sap and even on tip top condition growing fast toms brix taken in the morning 2 hours after feeding over several weeks never went above 6-7 brix and i had the biggest bestest toms you ever seen so it did not make me think brix reading is that crucial,or i was doing it wrong? meter calibrates with deionised water so i guess it is semiaccurate,eyes work easier i think,sometimes!

[GMO]

@duke no dig at your growing as im sure my numbers will be even lower if and when i get to test them, but i have a feeling that getting up around 8-11% sugar is going to be alot harder than it sounds. from what i have read and seen, 5.5 brix is about the average for supermarket tomatoes and 7% for more "sweet" fruits like strawberries and blueberries when its possible to get readings in the mid teens if all the ideal conditions are met; and thats the fruiting parts which are typically higher sugar store than the leaf tissue as i understand it

but with that all being said if i can measure a 5% in the first 2 hours of the day then with a humic or microbiome addition it rises to 5.5 or even 6, thats a clear indication that one factor is potentially worth addressing and keeping up with while testing other areas of the environment and feed cycle. literally working on the 1%'s we all but always discuss