At the Organic Garden Club meeting, Michael Whitman, Blue Sky Biochar, spoke about BRIX testing for our plants.  BRIX measures the sugar content of the plant or tree.  The higher sugar levels create better nutrition density and creates a better immunity against insects.

You should test the BRIX level in the early afternoon and test it consistently at the same time of each day.  Sugars are reduced at night as the plant sends them back to the roots.  It all starts in the soil, of course. 

Michael Wittman explained the importance of healthy regenerative soil and how to create living soil in our gardens by measuring the Brix Level to find how much sugar is in the plant sap. The Brix Level can be raised by adding rock dust, worm castings, biochar, compost, and mycorrhizae to our raised beds and fruit trees. 

While you are improving your soil and raising your Brix level, you can use wood vinegar.  Wood vinegar is a pyrogenic acid with hundreds of organic compounds and is natures way of sending insects away.  It’s like liquid smoke, it helps stimulate photosynthesis.

Michael stressed the importance of living soil and adding mulch to our garden soil, especially that mulch from trees being pruned in our neighborhood.

Michael uses a refractometer to measure the sugar level.  The leaf is the factory for the plant, while the below ground activity is just the supply chain.  The higher nutrient densities make it hard for insects to digest.  Plants create their own immunity.