What about sources of reasonably priced refractometers in the U.S.? Anyone know of any? Essie Hull
At 03:42 PM 1/2/02 +1100, you wrote: >Allan wrote > >". Brix can readily be affected by foliar applications can't it? -Allan " > >Above is the most important little snippet of information thats been on this >list for ages > >I know that (but dont understand why) a lot of organic and BD certified >producers are philosophicaly opposed to foliar nutrient applications. When >farmers are in the situation where we dont have our soils in balance yet, or >something else is wrong that has put our system off the track for a while >and we are suffering insect or disease attack, or poor plant growth due to >some nutritional disorder then is when we can make a major improvement in >quality of produce by using the brix meter to monitor the crops response to >a range of available foliar nutrients. And there are plenty of nice things >to use this includes the BD preps, fish emulsion, kelp, worm juice, compost >teas, manure teas, molasses, sugar, vinegar, etc etc as well as the host of >proprietary brand stuff, and the so called nasties from the chemical >companies ( we often use small quantities of say calcium nitrate -1/2 to 1 >kg per hectare -combined with molasses and fish emulsion or 300 to 500 ml of >food grade phosphoric acid with a molasses - kelp - fish - homebrew tea ) > >I use four small pump spray bottles from the supermarket to test for crop >response - mix the different brews in the exact proportion that will be put >out with the field sprayer, spray a meter square plot of each and measure >the brix response half an hour later, you will often get a down response >from a perfectly good material that is just not appropriate at the time - >whichever bottle mix gives the best crop response (increased brix of crop >and decreased brix of any weeds) is the one to use and less quantity is >usually better than more > >The crop response (yield and quality ) that can be achieved at low cost >using this method can be truly amazing. We have had several times where >brews that ran around a dollar an acre material cost have given several >bushels per acre more wheat as well as lessening the vigour of weeds in the >crop > >This is not rocket science and its not new either >I read the brix mans online book this morning and would recommend it to >all - and while it seems written more for the consumer than the producer - >its good information - as also the book by Arden Andersen that is referred >to there > >For those having difficulty finding instruments at a reasonable price in >Australia or New Zealand David Von Pein in Queensland is the most cost >effective supplier of this gear that I have seen (dont know how this bloke >makes a profit he's heaps cheaper than most) - OK thats a plug but I have no >financial connection ! > > After we get our soils properly balanced and remineralised to Albrecht >standards and get our biodynamics working right and everything else is good >then I suppose what I have written here no longer applies - in the mean time >its another tool we can all use to grow better quality produce at less >expense for the good of all - and I know at least one feller that needs to >make a profit from his farm in the short term. > >Best to all for the new year >Lloyd Charles
