Ever Wish You Could Have A Force Field For Your Plants? Part 1– Leaf Brix
Insects bugging you and your garden? Are insects and diseases just a part of growing things? What is the best bug repellent?
Walk into any gardening store and one of the first things you see are the sections devoted to pesticides and disease control. It has become accepted that if you grow anything, you are going to need something at some point to deal with the inevitable pest or disease issues that will arise. There are products for everyone— the conventional grower and the organic grower, because no one escapes these issues, right? Right???
It may surprise you to know that it wasn’t always this way. Insects and diseases have not always been the scourge of growers. We have become so accustomed to these issues that we don’t even realize it can be different and should be different.
Why do pests and diseases exist? What we commonly call a “pest” doesn’t simply exist to annoy us but actually has a given role in nature. Their job is to help remove deficient plants. Plants that are unhealthy, do not have sufficient nutrients, and should not be used for food or breeding are the ones “attacked” by insects. Disease also has a similar role. It is the plant lacking nutrients and health that is affected by the so-called disease organisms of fungus and bacteria. They exist to break these unhealthy plant forms down so that they are cleaned up and removed from the system.
Is this viewpoint of insects and diseases new to you? Well, please read on friend! This is the first part in a series of how I know plants have pest and disease resistant force fields we can activate without poisons. 🤓
Plants with high leaf Brix are not affected by insects or disease…
Have you heard of Brix measurements? If so, you may associate them with measuring the amount of sweetness in fruit. Fruit growers often use a Brix number as an indication of a fruit’s sweetness as it is an important component of taste and can indicate superiority in quality. But what you may not know is that Brix measurements taken from the leaves are also an indication of how well a plant is photosynthesizing.
Photosynthesis is the process of creating sugar and oxygen from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. A refractometer is a tool that tests a plant’s juices or sap to show how much sugar and other dissolved solids are in the plant through a Brix reading. There is a direct correlation between photosynthesis and plant health and so some researchers use Brix as an indicator of how well plants are doing in given conditions. This measurement is a quick way to see how healthy a plant is on the inside, the parts that are invisible to human eyes.
Entomologist Thomas Dykstra has been studying insects for over 28 years. One thing he has found to be true is that insects only feed upon food that is considered unfit, nutritionally poor, dead, or dying. He says there are no exceptions to this. If you have insects attacking your crop, your crop is suffering in some fashion or another. No insect will attack a healthy plant because they do not have a digestive system capable of handling the more complex carbohydrates in healthy plants.
All plants emit odors and frequencies. Insects’ antennae are tuned in to very specific frequencies. For example, the floral compounds given off by some flowers to attract honeybees are emitting a frequency just for them. Plants can also advertise themselves as being unhealthy through the scent and frequency they give off.
According to Dykstra: “Insects are only tuned in to the unhealthy plant. No insect will ever attack a healthy plant. What they’re zooming in on is the unhealthy plant, because it’s digestible. Healthy plants are not digestible. Unhealthy plants are. Because they can’t digest a healthy plant, there’s no interest in even attacking it. It either has to be injured or it has to be unhealthy. And then, by doing so, it is now digestible, and this is what an insect is going to attack.”
The below picture is a chart by Dykstra showing at which leaf Brix level certain insects attack because those carbohydrate levels are digestible by that particular insect. When the Brix levels change, the type of insect changes.
Note that once you get above 12 Brix in the leaves, insects are not really causing any issues with the plant. This is because at that level they are unable to bite through the cuticle or into the phloem tissue. Once it hits 14 Brix, the insects aren’t even landing on it unless it is to rest according to Dykstra.
This also applies to fruit flies. Get your Brix levels above 12 on your trees and the fruit flies no longer affect them. This is huge for fig growers affected by the Black Fig fly (Silba adipata McAlpine). In an email exchange I had with Dykstra directly about the Black Fig fly, he stated: “The fly will lose interest in the plant if the leaves are measuring 9 Brix, but they may be still present at 10 Brix. At 11 Brix, the fly will lose interest in the plant, or if already present, will either die outright or experience a slowing down of its development.”
Can it really be that simple? All of those decades and decades of chemical sprays to eradicate these nuisance insects, and all it’s ever been about is plant health?
It seems I can’t even 🎻 discuss non-pesticide options for dealing with the Black Fig fly without someone routing the conversation back to pesticides. It’s like it is ingrained in us that this is the way to deal with something inconvenient and we are helpless until someone develops the right spray for it. But has the answer always been there staring us right in the face?
Our plants are unhealthy, they lack nutrients and it’s nature’s job to prevent us from eating what does not benefit us. Note that in the chart “food” is produced above 12 Brix. This doesn’t mean the plant is finally producing fruit. No, it means the fruit produced is finally nutritious and is “food” for us. So maybe we should be thanking the Black Fig flies for getting rid of what is not beneficial to us instead of wanting to nuke them?
If you believe that insects are attracted to unhealthy plants, your whole thinking changes on insects. Suddenly you have no use for insecticides. It just follows with that level of thinking, because you realize, “Well, I’m not competing with insects. They’re just eating some of the garbage plants that I shouldn’t be eating. So I really don’t need to spray them anymore.” —Dr. Thomas Dykstra
Pollinators are affected by Brix…
What is interesting is that the same thing applies to insect pollinators. Healthy plants produce larger amounts of nectar that have a higher sugar content, which increases its attractiveness to pollinators. Pollinators often will ignore the unhealthier plants as they have less nectar and sugar. Reportedly, honeybees avoid visiting flowers where the nectar Brix is below 7 since it involves more energy consumption on their part to try to collect enough nectar from them. The return is too low to spend time on them.
You can observe how long pollinators are active in a crop. Is a flower worth spending 90 seconds on or is it only worth 5 seconds? Do pollinators spend all day in your garden or do they visit for a couple hours and leave? Are the honeybees preferring the flowers on weeds to the blossoms on your fruit trees? That attractiveness can be an indication of plant health.
Is it just Thomas Dykstra who has observed the advantages of measuring Brix for plant health? No, he is not alone in this. Carey Reams talked about this starting in the 70s and Dan Skow, Arden Andersen, and others have further developed it.
Dr. Carey Reams has stated that all disease is the result of mineral deficiency. One of the most important minerals for increasing Brix readings is calcium. Dr. Reams found that calcium levels in produce rise and fall proportionately with the Brix levels. This relationship makes sense for the insect prevention aspects as it is calcium that strengthens plant cell walls making them more impervious to insect penetration. High Brix foods also have more trace minerals such as copper, iron, and manganese.
This has a direct relationship to us, with what we are consuming. Unlike insects, our digestive systems are designed for eating these higher Brix fruits and produce. Indigestion is even said to be related to consuming low Brix produce as they lack functioning enzymes and carbohydrates that aid in digestion.
Our tastebuds naturally choose sweeter and flavorful foods because these also by nature are meant to have higher mineral content. These minerals through plants benefit us because they are in a form we can easily assimilate and utilize. Unfortunately, through modern agriculture, we have been breeding for varieties that taste sweeter without the corresponding nutritional content or having achieved peak ripeness. It is gaming our built-in instincts and senses to choose foods that should be nutritionally beneficial to us but actually are not. We become overfed but undernourished.
You can read more about Brix and digestion here.
You can measure the quality of the produce you buy or grow with a Brix refractometer and compare the readings to this chart ↓ Dr. Carey Reams developed.
Other benefits of high-Brix plants…
As you may remember, roots put out exudates to attract the microbes they need for nutrients and to alter the pH to their preference. Those exudates come from the sugars produced through photosynthesis. About 20-70% of the sugar (photosynthate) is expelled into the soil from the roots. This expelled sugar feeds the microbes that in turn break down minerals and supply them to the plant. So high-Brix plants will support thriving microbial life in the soil.
Sugar also has another benefit in that it is hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbs water. The more sugar you have in the soil, the higher the soil’s water retention. This means drought resistance and high-Brix plants go together.
Low-Brix plants have little they can contribute to the soil and may only put out up to 25% of their photosynthate. But higher Brix plants may provide 40-50% to the soil and still have enough to grow well. Get above 14 Brix and up to 70% of photosynthate may be added to the soil. There is so much sugar in the soil that not only are these plants drought resistant, but freeze tolerant as well, since highly concentrated sugar water will not freeze above 26°F. Freeze warnings then become less worrisome to the grower.
I don’t have “unhealthy” plants…
Perhaps you have had issues with pests, but the idea of having “unhealthy” plants pokes at your inner plant-maven pride. That’s understandable, many of us here are gardening aficionados and we devote a lot of time and care to our plants.
So another way we can look at it is that Brix is measuring energy. A high-Brix plant will emit a superior frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum than a low-Brix plant. Insects detect these electrical spectrums and they “attack” plants with the weakest emanations. Minerals are a big component in electrical conductivity so a low-Brix plant may be missing a certain mineral that aids in that conductivity. Using a Brix refractometer is just a way for us to see what an insect is seeing.
How does this affect us and how we grow?
It’s all about nutrition. Soil nutrition ⚭ plant nutrition ⚭ fruit nutrition ⚭ consumer nutrition—it forms a chain with each one linking to the other. True Brix measures a combination of sugar, minerals, amino acids, lipids, proteins, flavonoids, and other dissolved solids. Sugar is just one of the components of Brix. It’s not about artificially raising sugar levels but ensuring adequate mineral and microbial levels for our plants in order to receive the benefits of high-Brix plants. We also need to stop doing things that lower Brix levels, such as killing off the microbial life that feeds our plants which happens from using synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides or through reducing sunlight exposure that limits photosynthesis.
You can measure the Brix levels of your plants to get an idea of how your plants are doing. Refractometers are available for purchase on Amazon or other websites, analog or digital, cheap or expensive. The best time to test leaf Brix levels is between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., when maximum photosynthesis is occurring, using leaves from the middle of the plant. Stems are not used, just the leaf body. A garlic press can be used to squeeze out the juice or you can buy a plant sap press specifically made for this purpose that gives a firmer press.
It’s good to get a baseline reading as a control and to chart your levels over the growing season to see how they correlate to any issues. You can check Brix levels after applying an input to check its effect on your plants. Wait about 60 minutes after spraying to check, some inputs may have a delayed reaction and you may need to wait until the next day to check. Did Brix levels go up, stay the same, or go down with the use of that input?
Is this a perfect solution to plant issues and nutrition? Honestly, there are limitations involved. The Brix principle has demonstrated itself to be accurate and correct many times over in many different areas. However, it is tricky because Brix levels naturally fluctuate over time, with weather, water availability, the location on the plant, and for other reasons. It also can be tricky to be consistent in how and when we extract sap.
Things that affect Brix readings:
Time: Brix levels fluctuate throughout the 24-hour photocycle, peaking mid to late day. Brix levels often drop 30% or more in the leaves from evening until morning, as sugars are moved, used, or stored.
Weather: Plants can anticipate storms by as much as several days, and move all the sugars into the roots to preserve for recovery after the storm. Brix readings are likely to drop before the storm by quite a bit.
Water availability: Dehydrated crops will have a higher Brix reading because the dissolved solids are more concentrated. This higher reading does not accurately reflect actual health.
Location on plant: Brix levels fluctuate at different locations on the plant. There can be big differences between old leaves and new leaves, on new shoot growth, or from the fruit leaf. It is common for the leaves most closely associated with the fruit to have lower Brix because the fruit has the higher nutritional requirement and is the end of the nutritional flow. So there can be disease and insect-resistant leaves and susceptible fruit on the same plant.
Genetics: Some crops have been bred to have artificially inflated Brix readings on the fruit while not having nutritional integrity, and the remainder of the plant is also very low. Sweet corn is an example.
According to John Kempf, each of these fluctuations can bring as much as a 60-70% swing in Brix. The less healthy a plant is, the more dramatic the fluctuations. Suffice it to say, the location and time with the lowest Brix level determines the degree of insect or disease resistance for the whole plant. These fluctuations are also why leaf Brix is used as opposed to other parts of the plant. Leaf Brix measurements remain much more consistent, have less fluctuation, and are easier to obtain samples of throughout the growing season.
So Brix is a wildly useful tool that can give us an idea of where our plants’ nutrient levels are at. It can give us insight into why certain insects are affecting our crops. It can help us to see how an input is affecting our plants. But it also can have fluctuations based on current environmental conditions, so it is important to gather data from multiple readings over time to get a fuller picture. If we can hover in the 14 Brix range, that is awesome, because any fluctuations by a couple of points won’t affect insect susceptibility.
Am I going to use Brix levels on my grows?
You better believe it baby! I will choose increasing plant health any day over spraying poisons or netting all of my crops. As mentioned above, mineral levels are directly linked to Brix levels, specifically calcium. So I will be spraying my calcium extractions mentioned in this article, and I will be adding minerals to my trees in the form of basalt, and a couple of other mineral inputs. I will also make sure to regularly add microbial life to the soil through JLF, talked about here, and other microbial-rich inputs since these are the guys that make the minerals available to the plants.
I will not be using any fertilizers with synthetic nitrogen as these kill off soil microbes needed for food by my trees and they also increase pest pressure, as mentioned in this article. It’s not about the nitrogen, it’s all about the calcium.
If you are not someone who likes to make their own inputs and prefers to buy, not a problem! Gypsum is great for both calcium and sulphur and works faster than others. Rock dusts and seaweed extracts can be used for micronutrients. Raw milk is fantastic for boosting microbial life and can be applied diluted as a soil drench or foliar spray. Plain, unsweetened kefir can be used if raw milk is unavailable. Microbial-rich leaf mold soil or worm castings are also very easy to get and can be applied directly or through quick extractions by dunking a handful bundled in an old sock or t-shirt in a bucket of water for a few minutes. Plant fermentations, such as from nettle or comfrey, are also available to buy online.
As with anything, it takes time for these changes to affect soil and plant health, but it is so worth it in the end. These figs and veggies will naturally taste better than others out there— I’m already drooling thinking about it 🤤— and each year will get better and better.
So does a plant force field against insects exist? Yes, it absolutely does! The crazy thing is, nature had it built in the whole time, we just need to activate it — the high-Brix field where insects just pass right on by.
Sound vibes for this article…
Your plants dedicated this song to you… I’m not sure why… Of course I had nothing to do with it… No, I have not been talking to them, whatevs… C’mon, don’t kill the messenger… Wait, why are you grabbing that?… Aaaaahhhhhh 🤡🧹…🏃♀️➡️
[Announcer:] Readers, while we wait for The Fig Jam to finish her, um, jog, please press play and enjoy the musical interlude.
Is that it, just raise the Brix? Nope, and thank you for asking! 😉 Brix was just the first part of a three-parter. There are two other elements in our insect force field. Stay tuned!
I forgot to mention in the article that it has been anecdotally observed that produce from high Brix plants seems to store longer and spoil less. One person mentioned that their fruit & veggies have a tendency to just dry out rather than spoil. Definitely something I plan to observe myself!