High Brix Hydroponics

[Jase72]

Apologies in advance if the title gassed anyone to believe that somebody finally did it! I am vigorously in pursuit of high brix hydroponics, but I am still at least months away from possible success. Instead, this is my attempt to attract like minds to a common topic to increase discussion and share ideas. I am already fully invested, I make my own concentrates, mix my own chelated micro nutrient blend to whatever trace targets I desire, and aside from the increasing laundry list of organic inputs, I have in play quite possibly the best combination of materials needed to have a good chance to be successful in high brix hydroponics.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, if anyone is interested in learning how to make their own nutrient blend using Hydro Buddy (an app for Windows/Linux), and what my very successful blends are, please see the link in my signature for mixing nutes and using Hydro Buddy. I am free for questions beyond that, but please read at least all of page one. Page 2 is some chit chat, but there is also useful tidbits on page 3. I mix my own nutrient blends beginning to end and am already growing extremely healthy plants with only extremely minor deficiencies. I was already in the process of refining my nutrient ratios when I stumbled onto high brix growing journals and Doc Bud's kit. Much added reading informed me that I was already in pursuit of perfectly balanced feed which is a prerequisite for brix growing. It was then that I stumbled onto this chart posted to THCfarm.

I just received my refractometer and learned my brix was around 7%, which I guess is not good compared to 420 plants. What they consider high is the high teens, but 12 is considered the benchmark. The highest Doc Bud ever heard of was 10% brix in hydro. My aim is around 14%. It will be a lot more than just dialing in the nutes, but it will likely also require a bit of sacrifice too. Not in the sense of lost bud weight, but in the sense of knowing you're not going to be fattening up as much. It's a fine line difference, but the way I understand it is that brix is the measure of sucrose content of the ploem so the less water there is present will skew the sucrose content (brix%) upwards. I believe this is why my plants are so very healthy, but my brix % is still so low. To get it to increase will involve the discovery and adoption of better practices, most of which I am already a proponent of;

• highly refined nutrient regimen that promotes adequate calcium and potassium uptake
• monitored nitrate levels
• monitored magnesium levels. Mag controls the creation of chlorophyl, and carbs and will likely be very influencial in brix in hydro.
• many organic inputs
• religious use of beneficial bacteria (for me via ACTs)
• decreased feeding frequency or increased O2 levels in DWC to promote root growth
• lowered EC

The last part is a little out of the scope of control and is likely just a happy result of ideal elemental targets. What I mean is that my very good feed charts before delving into high brix pursuits only put a 730 on my TDS meter each res change. Since getting into high brix pursuits, I decreased nitrate a bit, but increased calcium by 20 and potassium by 30ppm more. This is not a simple 50ppm on the meter, but generally speaking would translate into a number closer to 75ppm increase, so my new weekly start is 800 on my meter. I will stay with 800 so long as my tips don't burn, but after that, I gotta decrease some things again to regain good health, before testing new targets again.

Because I now know my leaf sap PH

I can make educated guesses about 2-3 different elements to change. I have made lots of great advances and will continue this totally alone if need be, but I do hope to attract like minds, hydro growers and hopefully some organics brix growers that are willing to share their wisdom and experience. I bet if they help us succeed with this, we can learn more about it which in turn might help them futher improve their brix numbers and maybe even harvest more weight in the process? I've received some contention in other threads, but that can be expected when pioneering anything new. Us test dummies are how humans advance.

I might be on a total different page here so I expect everyone to have a giggle, however have you looked at using concentrated grape juice, not the typical shit you buy down the lical supermarket but theres a type they use in wine making. It used for adding flavors and would definitely rise your brix level as its own brix rates around 65, it would be just a matter of working out whats the best way to introduce it and mixing ratio.

 

[Skybound]

I might be on a total different page here so I expect everyone to have a giggle, however have you looked at using concentrated grape juice, not the typical shit you buy down the lical supermarket but theres a type they use in wine making. It used for adding flavors and would definitely rise your brix level as its own brix rates around 65, it would be just a matter of working out whats the best way to introduce it and mixing ratio.

After much research, I've concluded that brix in hydro will never get reasonably high due to the added water content in the cells. High brix is relative to mineral density which will always be low when diluted in water.

I'm still curious to know what you mean by adding grape juice. I've never heard anything about it and I'm intrigued.

 

[Jase72]

Im not sure what products you would have where you are over here in Australia the have a white grape juice concentrate thats used in sweeting and raising the brix level. Ive lthought about using it several times but dont have those types of expertise, however I could only imagine it would be a lot easier then using molasses as your plant is unable to uptake that directly and has to be broken down in your soils before it is a usable source

 

[danijel610]

Below 6.4 lack of a cation, above 6.4 lack of an anion.
Since Potassium is mobile. You can also test the sap for potassium.
If potassium is less than 10% of the value of the upper leaves. The plant is robbing K from itself and time to apply K.

Can be done for a conventional (hydro dwc rockwool etc) or organic/regenerative/biological/ecodynamic no-till/whatever the fuck style grower. For some growers, it can be the tail that wags the dog.

That way you can "ask the plant" what is needed and then make educated fertilizing decisions.
For example. Test brix, Do a foliar spray. Then test one hour later and see if brix was raised.
Going to review and test different products to see how they work at raising brix.
I have experience using the meters. Also, teach farmers how to use them. Amazing stuff.
Sap testing can help to see a potential problem 4-6 weeks before you get a visual indication of a plant nutritional issue.
If you are looking for a supply of hydroponic wholesale Hydroponics Wholesale Supplier UK - Eden Horticulture is a good distributor in the UK

Hope that helps.

 

[Skybound]

I've given up trying to raise brix in hydro as brix is a measure of nutrient density, but how can that ever get elevated when the plant tissues are saturated with elevated water retention? Daniel Fernandez says it can be done, but is yet to make a blog entry to explain how that would work.

 

[StoneOtter]

Hey Sky! Well it's not from lack of trying on your part! Valiant effort!

 

[Seymour Green]

Hello @Groundbound. Sorry to revive an old thread but, my quest for high brix hydro has brought me here. I know you said you gave up on the idea but any new progress? I talk to a few commercial growers on Future4200 and they say high brix in hydro is possible but, achieved using much different ratios than what we are used to.
They all have money invested in finding these things out so, they tend to be pretty vague when explaining how to get there. Have to read and reread a few times to glean all the valuable info.