Hi and good morning!
The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It
- Thread starter Gee64
- Start date
Morning 
- Thread starter
- #8,083
Gee64
Well-Known Member
We don't produce brix, we need to eat it. Eating a high brix carrot vs a low brix one provides more energy from the higher sugar levels, but if it's high brix it's also high carbon (fiber), so that sugar can't spike, instead it's a slow burn of calories providing longer steadier energy, and it's high in minerals, which our body needs to function. Vitamin is actually a contraction for vital minerals.
Brix is the percentage of sugars in the plant sap, so a brix level of 15 is sap that is 15% sugar.
The sugar is created by photosynthesis, so it's also a reflection of your photosynthetic abilities.
If you make a change and brix drops, you lowered your photosynthetic ability. If it goes up it had a positive effect and you raised your photosynthetic abilities. So tracking brix is tracking photosynthetic ability in real time.
The higher the sugar content of the sap, the higher the mineral content, energy content, and fiber content as well, because you need more minerals and carbon to make more sugars, and sugars are stored energy.
The extra energy allows for more plant functions, the extra minerals allow for better or even complete functions, and the fiber strengthens the entire plant.
After enough minerals have been provided by the soil, and proper light levels have been set, you need to balance Calcium, Phosphorus, Carbon, Oxygen, and beneficial aerobic soil microbes, and brix will climb.
Once a plant can create more sugar than needed by both itself and it's microbial biome, it will store the excess in the soil. Carbon sequestering.
High brix is natures intent. Anything that isn't high brix gets culled by pests. Nature is cruel, only the strong survive.
Well without bugspray or fungicides anyways...
Sugar is energy, but it's also a preservative and an antifreeze, so high brix products last longer before they spoil, and resist cold better.
For us weed growers, that translates to better cures, and more resistance to cold nights, allowing for a better chance of a proper autumn harvest when nights get cold enough to kill low brix plants.
Add in the refractometers ability to monitor calcium levels and it creates a simple way to grow the healthiest plants possible.
When a plant is completely healthy it now has the ability to reach it's full genetic potential, and will fully become what the seed description described. You get what you paid for.
It can now do what it's DNA dictates. Anything less is disease.
Low brix is ripping you off.
Pests and fungals are indicators of low brix. The plant calls them in with signals that pests pick up with their antennae and their advanced eyesight. She's committing suicide to free up resources so her brothers and sisters have a better chance.
Natures way.
I just had drinks with a plant pathologist... what a fabulous, fun person she was
g-one-three
Well-Known Member
I didn't know you went to Gee's house hahaI just had drinks with a plant pathologist... what a fabulous, fun person she was
- Thread starter
- #8,086
Gee64
Well-Known Member
a synthetic or organic one?I just had drinks with a plant pathologist... what a fabulous, fun person she was
I didn't ask. It came up earlier in conversation that she is a scientist but only later did she mention the plant thing and the conversation was moving too fast to delve deeper this time.
4our8ighty0
Well-Known Member
Oh ok I see so sugar really is all that's necessary to measure the health nice. ty for taking the time to clear that up makes a lot more sense now. I know I pretty bad w the questions sometimes but I appreciate you n everyone taking the time to type up good clear awnsers for my machine gun mouth lol is this refractometer the only way to test brix ? Aside from a test you also said no dead give away signs that could reliably indicate brix level in plant ?good or bad ? Can this brix level be artificially increased ? Like can I shoot up my plant w sugar water or whatever to raise brix count ? Are we 100% sure cannabis cannot absorb sugar waters in any way?
Thirvnrob
Well-Known Member
Fungus gnats & spider mites have always been something I battled until I started measuring brix. The first thing I noticed was no bugs. If I understand it correctly, some bugs don’t like it ( the sugars) and some bugs can’t digest it. Either way, if that’s the only benefit I’ll take it. It’s pest control on cruise control & saves me a lot of work & worry.
4our8ighty0
Well-Known Member
Yra that's a huge beney right there,how involved is the process of raising brix ?
Thirvnrob
Well-Known Member
All I’ve done differently is I started using dolo water & keeping my ppm consistent. That’s it.
4our8ighty0
Well-Known Member
Oh so high brix is a side effect of good care ?
- Thread starter
- #8,093
Gee64
Well-Known Member
You can easily jack up brix with sugar water, molasses is what's mostly used, but it's temporary and leads to a crash if used repeatedly, as microbes will stop chasing nutrients to trade for plant sugars and start chasing sugar water, and the plant/microbe connection gets broken, and beneficial aerobic microbes are one of the 5 key components in creating and maintaining high brix.
One dose of molasses will jumpstart things, but repeated doses turns the microbes into sugar junkies and they become your bitches, not the plant's bitches.
The plant will squirt it's sugars on what it needs to eat. Magnesium or phosphorus or whatever. Molasses everywhere in the soil will destroy that symbiotic relationship. Plus molasses is a cost, plant sugars are free.
- Thread starter
- #8,094
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Plus no matter what anyone tells you, smoking bug spray is not good for you.
Thirvnrob
Well-Known Member
@4our8ighty0 Apparently so! I forgot to mention that I added a couple cups of mosquito bits when I mixed my last batch of soil & it definitely helps, but I’ve been using bits for a long time & still had to do foliar sprays with essential oil concoctions right before lights out 2-3 times a week throughout veg. I’m convinced that good soil & good water is what does the trick.
Thirvnrob
Well-Known Member
I never had multiple bitches before!
- Thread starter
- #8,097
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Gimme 1 more day to get the family stuff finished and I'll give you a good brief 2 or 3 cup of coffee rundown on it. It's extremely easy when it's explained. Really it's just LOS with extra calcium and phosphorus.
I mean if Rob and Azi can do.... ooops, wrong chat
Thirvnrob
Well-Known Member
True dat. It’s hard to learn me anythingGimme 1 more day to get the family stuff finished and I'll give you a good brief 2 or 3 cup of coffee rundown on it. It's extremely easy when it's explained. Really it's just LOS with extra calcium and phosphorus.
I mean if Rob and Azi can do.... ooops, wrong chat
g-one-three
Well-Known Member
This
is what is honestly crazy to me. I had grown many many years ago, without much success due to pests, I.e. spider mites, and lack of experience. If I had only known back then about Brix.Dolomite water is such a great tool. I unfortunately pushed my last grow to the limit and went over the edge on the high side of calcium. Used with a refractometer (and a little caution) Dolomite water is killer at picking up Brix and keeping your soil tilthy and electric lol.
This is how I know when my microbes are really populating because they can feed on the eggs and larvae of the fungus gnats and keep them in check and almost non existent.
@4our8ighty0 Gee is going to give you a super great explanation of this (it's how we all get hooked so be careful lol).
@Thirvnrob have you added any extra phosphorus to your soil mixture? This I think was the biggest change for my flower and trichome production. I've been adding in a 0-9-0 top dress even through veg to keep the microbes mining it because Gee said "Every day the plant is going to need more phosphorus than it did the day before." He was absolutely right. I have seen great improvement on my end product since adding it in and I was wondering if your seeing the same thing?
4our8ighty0
Well-Known Member
Nice I'm always down for a download bro !! I'm very interested and I would really appreciate it,I have skimmed your previous convos about this! Plz don't feel obligated when you ready bro
butttt....... Funny you mention molasses!!!!
I am a big fan of grandmas unsulphered molasses !! Not black strap!! Gmas is thinner dissolves faster n lighter,lower sugar but a wider range of water souluable nutrients that have many positive effects!(if used properly) ik u know this but it's news to me that molasses is a huge component of brix!! hmmm so I use molasses bi weekly,weekly for seedlings and I give at transplant or topping helps ease the stress n speed recovery to strategically apply microbe "explosion",that inturn leads to larger variety and amount of nutes available for injured or stressed plants to pull from. So my brix may already be high ? I swear my plants darker than my pics ! The cam can't function under my bright ass light. How can I check ? I will take better pics next strip.
butttt....... Funny you mention molasses!!!! I am a big fan of grandmas unsulphered molasses !! Not black strap!! Gmas is thinner dissolves faster n lighter,lower sugar but a wider range of water souluable nutrients that have many positive effects!(if used properly) ik u know this but it's news to me that molasses is a huge component of brix!! hmmm so I use molasses bi weekly,weekly for seedlings and I give at transplant or topping helps ease the stress n speed recovery to strategically apply microbe "explosion",that inturn leads to larger variety and amount of nutes available for injured or stressed plants to pull from. So my brix may already be high ? I swear my plants darker than my pics ! The cam can't function under my bright ass light. How can I check ? I will take better pics next strip.