Doc Bud's High Brix Q&A With Pictures

[Dutty Panty]

There's a Lil guide with most meters. Your measuring the refraction of light I've yet to use this.

 

[Graytail]

I've wondered if you wash the leaf or bud before taking a brix reading. It seems like, with all the foliar sprays, and the tiny amount of juice from the plant, it could be contaminated by surface residue, altering the reading. Dunno - just speculation.

When I was getting my readings of 25, I began to believe that the foliars were skewing the results. But if we try to wash the leaves before testing, we'll screw with the natural hydration levels, I think. If the stoma absorb any of the rinse water, it'll read low.

Brix readings are valuable for checking plant health in your own garden as it grows - not so much as a competitive thing.


The VitaMix is a great idea, but you only need a few drops, so kind of a waste.

My experience is that leaves and buds read fairly closely to each other. Buds may be a point or two higher. The levels of dissolved solids are fairly uniform throughout the plant. The petiole, with its high moisture level, always reads much lower, though.

 

[scrubby]

I use a clean garlic press..nothing fancy shmancy here. I get consistant readings. Just make sure you take it from the same spot on the plant and at the same time of the day...consistency is key...look it up!

 

[Doc Bud]

I have a VitaMix which is a high powered blender I use for making vegan smoothies. I am leading to a question here. This VitaMix will take many varying raw ingredients piled and packed into the container such as dry oats, flax, chia, sunflower, almond, pecan, Kale including the thick part, spinach, Cannabis, bananas, whole apples with stem, oranges, grapes...then spins this into a smooth juice without any fibers or pulp you can feel in your mouth. Is this a device I could use to prepare an amount of Cannabis juice to measure Brix levels properly? Provided I had a recommended refractometer on hand of course.
Also, is there a set method that you could elaborate on, that you use when measuring Brix levels. In other words how do YOU measure Brix levels?

The VitaMix would work extremely well for rupturing the cell wall....but I think you might need more leaves than is necessary to do it.

A mortar and pestle works great! Two large flat washers and a pair of ViceGrips also works well.

I use a modified ViceGrips with what is essentially the equivalent of the two washers.

 

[Doc Bud]

When I was getting my readings of 25, I began to believe that the foliars were skewing the results. But if we try to wash the leaves before testing, we'll screw with the natural hydration levels, I think. If the stoma absorb any of the rinse water, it'll read low.

Brix readings are valuable for checking plant health in your own garden as it grows - not so much as a competitive thing.


The VitaMix is a great idea, but you only need a few drops, so kind of a waste.

My experience is that leaves and buds read fairly closely to each other. Buds may be a point or two higher. The levels of dissolved solids are fairly uniform throughout the plant. The petiole, with its high moisture level, always reads much lower, though.

Yep. I agree 100%. And the petiole is where early deficiencies will show up first, so I always include one in my sample.

 

[scrubby]

The VitaMix would work extremely well for rupturing the cell wall....but I think you might need more leaves than is necessary to do it.

A mortar and pestle works great! Two large flat washers and a pair of ViceGrips also works well.

I use a modified ViceGrips with what is essentially the equivalent of the two washers.

I used to use two quarters cleaned with alcohol and channel locks lol

 

[xtrchessreal]

As usual I way over think things but then I have never heard of this and only just read about it today so I am confused and cleared of any charges I lay upon myself

So really one just needs to squeeze the material until a few drops of moisture fall into a measuring container where the refraction is measured. I assume then spectrum of light used makes a huge difference. In essence its a measure of density based on amount of refracted light which from what I am reading can tell you 'specific gravity' of a solution or if I remember my thermodynamics and chemistry right its a molarity function too. Very interesting to learn this. Its a spectrum measurement - cool High Tech Cannabis.
You guys are far out man lol I haven't used that term since the 70's

 

[Doc Bud]

As usual I way over think things but then I have never heard of this and only just read about it today so I am confused and cleared of any charges I lay upon myself

So really one just needs to squeeze the material until a few drops of moisture fall into a measuring container where the refraction is measured. I assume then spectrum of light used makes a huge difference. In essence its a measure of density based on amount of refracted light which from what I am reading can tell you 'specific gravity' of a solution or if I remember my thermodynamics and chemistry right its a molarity function too. Very interesting to learn this. Its a spectrum measurement - cool High Tech Cannabis.
You guys are far out man lol I haven't used that term since the 70's

That's basically it.....but it is very important to crush the cell wall of the leaf. The best method is mortar and pestle OR massive compression.

Brix is a measurement of Refractive Index.

 

[Doc Bud]

Pics.

 

[TheBoogyman]

very nice, doc. What's your choice for a purple strain in your soil?

 

[Doc Bud]

very nice, doc. What's your choice for a purple strain in your soil?

I'm enjoying both Grape Ape and Purple Cadillac.

 

[TheBoogyman]

grape ape and GDP are personal favorites. Of course everytime I see it around here its nothing compared to what I see on here. Gotta get myself some grape ape or GDP beans.

Do your plants turn purple on their own normally doc or so you lower temps a bit? I'm assuming the cat drench has an effect on colors?

 

[Doc Bud]

grape ape and GDP are personal favorites. Of course everytime I see it around here its nothing compared to what I see on here. Gotta get myself some grape ape or GDP beans.

Do your plants turn purple on their own normally doc or so you lower temps a bit? I'm assuming the cat drench has an effect on colors?

Yes, they turn purple on their own....the GA and PC anyways. Others I can coax some purple with lower temps, like the Paki, and even the Champagne.

The Cat Drench also colors them up, but not the deep wine purple. These pics are from a while ago, but in them you can see all the different types of purple, on GA and Afghan.

 

[TheBoogyman]

man that REALLY makes me want some GA genetics

 

[SmokeyMcFly]

Docs Grape Ape was hands down the best tasting bud I have ever tried

 

[medmanmike]

Doc, two things:

1). Though I'm subscribed to this forum, I'm no longer getting emails notifying me of posts to this forum. Any ideas?

2). In your "Doc Bud tries LED lights again - g8 600", there is a pic of one of your trays/flood tables. What size is it?

Thanks

 

[NematodeNate]

Hey mmm.....I believe I remember doc saying it's is a 3x6 table he uses......I remember cause I'm giving thought to expanding myself.

 

[Doc Bud]

Doc, two things:

1). Though I'm subscribed to this forum, I'm no longer getting emails notifying me of posts to this forum. Any ideas?

2). In your "Doc Bud tries LED lights again - g8 600", there is a pic of one of your trays/flood tables. What size is it?

Thanks

That is a 3x6 tray. I have LED's over it, HID over a 4x8 and other stuff that doesn't get shown here.

 

[Graytail]

MMM, go to User CP and choose Settings. From there click on General Settings and then scroll down to Default Thread Subscription Mode.

Check to see how your sub and notifications are set.

 

[SmokeyMcFly]

Also check your spam folder if you haven't already.