BRIX — What It Is and Why It Matters

I first heard about BRIX readings in an article on Joe Gardener. I’ve always been a sucker for ways to help my plants thrive naturally, so let's just say I was immediately intrigued. After years of studying and trying to implement permaculture practices on my Georgia farm (another post for another time), learning how to increase BRIX levels felt like the perfect next step in my nerdy fascination with plant health. Before I move on, I have a disclaimer...please hear me when I say I am not an expert on BRIX. Ha, shocker. I'm just a hungry learner and a doer and I'm here to share my experience of trying to increase BRIX levels here on my farm so you can learn from it or leave it. I'm good either way.

What is BRIX?

BRIX measures the dissolved solids in a plant’s sap—mostly sugars—along with minerals, amino acids, etc.

Why would we want to know that data? Because a plant's sugar content gives us a window into how well the plant is photosynthesizing and converting nutrients into energy. Or in other words, it tells us how well a plant is feeding itself.   And why does THAT matter?

Because a plant that’s feeding itself well is healthier, more resilient to stress, and more productive. High BRIX levels often correlate with better flavor, more intense smell, more vibrant colors, more nutrients, and improved resistance to pests and disease. In short, knowing a plant’s BRIX gives us a snapshot of its overall vitality and quality.

We Wanted to See For Ourselves

Those are the some lofty claims behind higher BRIX levels and what that can mean for your plants. We wanted to see if these claims panned out for ourselves.

Last season, we worked to implement farm practices that are known to increase BRIX levels and noted some intriguing findings with our 1,800 dahlia plants—darrrrk green thick leaves, grasshoppers all around and on our plants but not munching our blooms, and leaves that showed little to no leaf chlorosis. Although committing to raising your BRIX levels high enough to reap the all benefits takes time—what we noted on our farm has made us determined to continue down this road, refining our practices as we learn.

Why I’m Excited About BRIX

BRIX is a ridiculously helpful feedback tool into how our plants are responding to what we're doing to them. It takes the guess work out of our growing practices. If plants are responding well to how we're fertizling, watering, mulcing, etc., then the BRIX measurements will reflect that by trending up. If our practices aren't helping our plants or are even hurting them, the BRIX measurements will trend down. So we observe. We take note. And then we adjust accordingly.

In the next post, we'll talk about what BRIX number we're aiming for and how to measure BRIX more accurately. P.S. This podcast with Dr. Tom Dystra from "The No-Till Flowers Podcast" is another amazing resource from a scientist who studies BRIX.