Temperature

[grassfarmer]

Does anyone monitor the Brix levels of their crops or know of anyone that does ?

We did quite a bit of testing on forages we were grazing, got a handle on it now so usually don't bother testing - can taste a bit of alfalfa and get an idea where it is. Pet peeve with Brix testing is where do you get a garlic press that doesn't break when you dry to squeeze moisture out of grass? I've broken about 6 of them and the wife gets mad when I steal hers!

[furrowtickler]

A healthy, high Brix crop doesn’t sell crop protection products very well.
Everybody knows you can’t grow a crop without fertilizer and protection products. The world would starve.

Yes that is very true , it is quite the gig they have going . They all want to sell high inputs and not one offers brix testing. Most don’t even know what it is.
So many get duped into high end fertility and fungicide and totally don’t know brix levels. They have a lot on the high input treadmill.

[SASKFARMER3]

Interesting where do I find more info

[bucket]

Thank you for that heads up on Brix testing....i learned something today...very interesting.

[bucket]

Interesting where do I find more info

answer: GOOGLE

[bucket]

Yes that is very true , it is quite the gig they have going . They all want to sell high inputs and not one offers brix testing. Most don’t even know what it is.
So many get duped into high end fertility and fungicide and totally don’t know brix levels. They have a lot on the high input treadmill.

Furrow

after googling it ...is it as simple as they make it out to be ?

You have to know where your plant numbers are but that 150 dollar optical refractometer can tell you that much?

I have wasted more than that last night breaking shear pins on the swing away and the grain all over.

[Guest]

http://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/the-beauty-of-brix/

I find this has been helpful

[Guest]

We did quite a bit of testing on forages we were grazing, got a handle on it now so usually don't bother testing - can taste a bit of alfalfa and get an idea where it is. Pet peeve with Brix testing is where do you get a garlic press that doesn't break when you dry to squeeze moisture out of grass? I've broken about 6 of them and the wife gets mad when I steal hers!

Had the exact same problem so I made my own with a pair of vice grips. Just google brix plant sap extractor and pick the one you like

[FarmJunkie]

From what I know about Brix levels the higher the sugar the less likely bugs will eat your crop. I guess that might include fungi bugs.

[furrowtickler]

Furrow

after googling it ...is it as simple as they make it out to be ?

You have to know where your plant numbers are but that 150 dollar optical refractometer can tell you that much?

I have wasted more than that last night breaking shear pins on the swing away and the grain all over.

Basically yup