Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] brix

From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:25:06 -0500

Hi Joel -

The first paragraph of the OFRF-funded study from California
does a good job of describing the situation:

"The advantages of practicing integrated pest management (IPM) 
with a "Plant Positive" rather than a "Pest Negative" perspective 
are becoming increasingly clear.  As outlined by Eliot Coleman 
and many other capable deep agricultural thinkers, this Plant
Positive perspective allows us to approach pest outbreaks with 
an emphasis on their basic causation, instead of simply treating 
the same old symptoms.  On the other hand, we must be very cautious 
in presuming that simple cause and effect or predictive relationships 
can be delineated from single, although easily monitored, parameters 
in our complex agricultural ecosystems."

In fact, instead of relying on Brix alone, the modern trend is to 
use three pocket meters for plant tissue monitoring:  Brix, EC, pH. 

More information, more insight.   What's going on with plant
metabolism?  How can you enhance crop fertility with soil and
foliar amenements?  What kind of specialized foliar feedings
can you mix up and apply?  Microbially enhanced nutrient 
delivery is a mechanism that is now commonly enhanced through 
the use of microbe teas.  

There's still plenty to explore with Brix, when used in context 
and with a good understanding of how it came to be used in 
Albrecht-Reams methodologies, commonly known as eco-farming.  

The OFRF study from California also noted the following: 

"Results of a three-year field project showed that Erythroneura 
leafhopper densities were significantly greater on vines
fertilized with synthetic ammonium nitrate compared with vines 
receiving compost fertilizer (Roy 1991, Garcia 1993)."

That observation has been reported by organic agriculture for 
over seven decades.  

Fig. 2 in the OFRF study was based on an organic vineyard.
The results either moderately to closely parallel what the
Brix-Insect theory suggests.  An inquisitive researcher might 
hop in the car and go back to the vineyard, ask questions, 
observe, and think further.  What kind of soil fertility 
testing and amendment program do they employ that might
be different from run-of-the-mill?  

There's more than one way to dissect a research paper.

Best regards,

Steve Diver

>Joel Gruver wrote:
>
>Hello folks,
>
>A week or two ago, Joe Nessim described his efforts to increase the brix 
>levels of sap from his date orchard.
>
>A few month ago I spoke with an organic crop consultant and was surprised to 
>hear him say that he thought brix measurements were conceptually appealing 
>but unreliable to the point of being unusable.
>
>I have heard this perspective from quite a few research scientists but 
>really expected that this consultant would be a brix enthusiast.
>
>Joel
>
>BTW My skepticism about brix as a routine measure of plant health was not 
>assuaged by the following OFRF research report:
>
>http://ofrf.org/funded/reports/mayse_94-36.pdf
>Leaf sap brix and leafhoppers in vineyards

..... etc .....

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