WHAT'S REALLY IN YOUR FOOD? How to Use a BRIX Meter

How to use a Brix Meter (Refractometer) to determine the quality of the food you are growing or buying. Higher levels of BRIX or measurement of sucrose in fresh fruit or leaves can also indicate higher levels of nutritional value being present. It is another measurement tool to track the progress and improvement of your crops and soil over time.

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[julieheath]

Legendary agro-ecologist Nicole Masters uses a garlic press to extract liquid from leaves, etc.

Brix measurements do vary with time in a given plant and are also sensitive to stresses, etc. They are great as a tool to see "hey, something changed". Also, to see if some type of foliar, etc will give the plant what it needs to ramp up its photosynthetic capacity.

Since you've been flying blind until now, you should give yourself a pat on the back for the several "excellent" ratings. For those that aren't matching your expectations, you can try some different foliars (fish emulsions, milk, molasses, etc) and lose the refractometer to see if they improve your Brix.

To those who say "this only measures sugar content": this is technically true, but misses the point that plants make sugars to feed the soil microbiome... then said microbiome brings back nutrients to the plant. Those nutrients improve plant health and... wait for it... plant nutrient content.

So Brix directly correlates with nutrient availability.

[stevehatcher]

Though there is a good correlation between sugar content and nutrients the Brix meter is reading mostly the sugars. This tool, as a proxy for measuring nutrients, would be far more useful on the not so sweet veggies, or just the leaves of the fruit plants or sweeter veggies.. Sweet veggies and most fruits, who's job it is pack on sugars during that last stage of ripening, are probably refracting 99.8% sugars. So the spike from 10 to 20 on ripening grapes during their last couple weeks has doubled the sugars but probably only increased nutrients/vitamins by mere fractions. But those micro-greens- a move from 4 to maybe 5 or 6 is probably a massive increase in nutrients and not quite so much sugars, since they're not in a sugar production and storage stage of their life. Winemakers and brewers use this tool specifically to measure sugar levels to get an idea of potential alcohol they can expect once the yeasts convert those sugars to booze. That all said, after seeing this video, I'm buying a refractometer to test leaves on my tomato and pepper plants!!! The electrospctrometers that will be coming as an attachment to our smartphones are still a few years off. They will/should give us measurements of actual nutrients - % iron, magnesium, potassium, boron, zinc, nitrogen, etc, etc. My understanding is that is the tool the Bionutrient Association is working on. It'll be a game changer for the AG industry.

[elijahwu]

It would be interesting if you did a comparison of your produce and the average supermarket's

[jacklegminercanada]

I'm 2 years on my no-till beds, definitely going to check this out!!

[Sunny-itor]

I live this. Also your brows are on point.

[Jerry-rfbn]

Thank you. I just added that Brix meter to my Amazon shopping cart.

[nancymweasel]

Excellent soil and a great job of raising foods

[argentosebastian]

Piece of advice. I bought a refractometer a few days ago and made a mistake and had to return it.
There are 3 different types of optical refractometer and is important to know what you are planning to measure. The one in this video goes from 0 to 30 brix and seems to work fine for veggies and fruits. If you are planning to measure for example honey, mustard, soy sauce and stuff like that, you need a "full range" refractometer and the scale goes from 0 to 80/90 brix. BTW, my urine is 5 brix 😁 and wish you luck you don't buy the one I returned

[davemi]

Measuring throughout the day can be Very Interesting.
Since Sunlight gradually increases Plant Sugars.

[johnandleighs.]

Hi Stephen enjoy the video . Another way to use the refractometer meter is to check the effectiveness of foliar sprays on your crops by checking foliage before and 1 hour and 2 hours after
application. Your Brix readings should go up if not you're not getting the effectiveness that you need from your sprays. All of your sprays should be applied at half rate using very clean water such as rain distilled or reverse osmosis water.

[nickp.]

This is my favorite tip to share with people who don't know. That produce sitting on the shelves in the regular supermarket are not nutritional! Get one for yourself and don't take my opinion. Great video, great information..

[moonsharn]

Brix is testing sucrose, micro greens and cucumber are supposed to be low in sucrose. You’re doing great 👍

[purplethumb]

Do know the most beneficial brix range for hemp(cannabis)

[alyamacdonald]

This is super cool! I wonder how much the levels would change depending on how quickly you test the produce after picking it.

[David-kdmf]

I think a garlic press would yeild better juice for refractometer

[johnandleighs.]

Hey Stephen was just wondering about your Tennessee trip if you're still planning to go. One good source of information would be to call the County extension services for whatever County you're interested in and ask for the contacts name and numbers for the Farmers Market managers IN that area. They usually Supply a list of local markets and the contact people that way you can question them individually for each area . I hope this.

[anti-popfpv]

I believe you need to be testing the leaves and not the actual fruit to determine what the sugar levels of the plant are. Maybe you're doing something else idk.

[amberamodei]

I love your lessions...but I really...really...really need help and your guidance on pest control.

[bigbuddhabelly]

You’re the best! I’m trying to learn how to do all of this. Nutrient dense foods!! Soil cultivation! Subscribed and looking forward to learning more from your trekked path!

[kicknadeadcat]

Could you explain how I can measure leafy vegetables for brix count? It's opaque and the meter will not read it