BRIX

[Millet]

Most people know when we talk about brix in citrus, we are referring to the sugar (sucrose) sweetness in a citrus fruit..  But what exactly is brix.

Brix is a measurement of sugar (sucrose) in solution, indicated in degrees.  One degree brix equals one gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution (juice).
 Citrus Research.Org

[Bomand]

Good info Millet. Sometimes Brix is misunderstood. Somehow it is associated with taste.....I suppose because taste is associated with sweetness or the opposite.

[simon_grow]

Thanks for the info! People also sometimes get incorrect Brix readings by getting small pieces of fruit flesh mixed in with the sample. If this happens, it will interfere with the light and can give a false high reading.

From what I have experienced, taking Brix readings from just about every piece of fruit I’ve eaten, the higher the Brix, the better the fruit tastes. The caveat is that over ripe fruit/fermented fruit can be horrible.

Simon

[Millet]

Brix/acid ratio
The ratio of the juice's brix to the grams of anhydrous citric acid per 100 grams of the juice. Indicator of juice quality and predictor of consumer acceptability.

[Millet]

Reasons accounting for higher or lower levels of sugars and acids in citrus fruits.

1. Citrus trees growing in areas of high humidly and warm nights produce fruit with higher sugar levels and lower acidity.

[Millet]

2. Conversely, citrus growing in arid areas with cool nights produce fruit with lower sugar levels and higher acidity.

[CanadaGrower]

It seems like adding micronutrients such as humic and fulvic acids maybe beneficial in increasing brix for some plants... the question is would this also apply to citrus?

[Millet]

As far as I know there is no research showing the Brix content of citrus fruit and Humic and Fulvic acids.  However, biostimulants such as humic and fulvic acids can be beneficial to citrus.  See the link below.
http://citrusindustry.net/2017/12/06/plant-biostimulants-snake-oils-or-beneficial-substances/

[SeaWalnut]

I use Pyroligneous acid wich is made of humic and fulvic acids ,for my acid loving plants with great success.
I use it to lower the ph of rainwater down to 4,5 and it chelates the iron nails i put in the soil wich prevents chlorosis of the plants.
I like this pyroligneous acid soo much that i am considering ways to make my own from wood .

[CanadaGrower]

Very interesting indeed. Unfortunately it seems they only sell to laboratories... I do work in one but I doubt management will allow me to order for personal use :p

[SeaWalnut]

Very interesting indeed. Unfortunately it seems they only sell to laboratories... I do work in one but I doubt management will allow me to order for personal use :p

I got it from supermarket near the biochar section.
Its a byproduct from making charcoal ,basically the condensed fumes.
Here is a blog i made on how i use it.
If the water is hard and has higher ph or a lot of buffer in it, it will turn it black just by a few drops of humic acid.
Its usually verry expensive stuff,one gallon costs @ 100 dollars but it has the humic acid from the equivalent 7 tonnes of compost.You use a little.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=32490.msg356453#msg356453

[CanadaGrower]

Upon further investigation, it looks that humic acid is readily available on amazon not sure if it's essentially the same thing? anyhow, I see a lot of people choose to do a foliar spray. How are you applying it SeaWalnut?

[SeaWalnut]

Upon further investigation, it looks that humic acid is readily available on amazon not sure if it's essentially the same thing? anyhow, I see a lot of people choose to do a foliar spray. How are you applying it SeaWalnut?

I mix it in the water wich i use to wet the plants( soil).
You can buy from online stores but its expensive stuff usually.
If its too expensive doesnt worth to buy it but if its cheap ,get it and for sure you will like it.
Pyroligneous acid its same as humic and fulvic acid,has both  and the expensive ones come from charcoal mineral deposits.

[Ilya11]

The principal components of pyroligneous acid are acetic acid, acetone and methanol.
Wikipedia

[SeaWalnut]

The principal components of pyroligneous acid are acetic acid, acetone and methanol.
Wikipedia

Wikipedia is sometimes not a good place to get references  .
Its humic acid and fulvic acid and its also called wood vinnegar.

[Millet]

OK back to Brix

Brix #3: Heat during a fruit's early life is important.  The more hours >75F (28C) during EARLY fruit growth gives grater Brix/acid rations later when the fruit is picked mature.

[Bomand]

Got it Millet. I think thre only time to evaluate brix is when the fruit is fully ripe. By ripe I mean at the peak of development of juice, sugar content. Brix changes as fruit goes through its maturing phases. Taste it seems is a personal opinion and is a diffrent choice for lots of folks. In order to have a standard Brix chart, and I know there are some, I wonder at what point the brix was calculated and was personal opinion as to ripeness a factor. What thinks you?

[Ilya11]

The principal components of pyroligneous acid are acetic acid, acetone and methanol.
Wikipedia

Wikipedia is sometimes not a good place to get references  .
Its humic acid and fulvic acid and its also called wood vinnegar.

Do you have this reference?

[simon_grow]

This paper shows how you can increase the Brix of Mangos. By spraying with the suggested foliar sprays at the recommended concentrations, they were also able to increase yields/decrease fruit drop.

http://scihub.org/ABJNA/PDF/2010/3/1-3-421-429.pdf

Ensuring your trees get enough nutrition, especially Potassium, Calcium and the appropriate amount of Boron can help to achieve higher Brix levels.

Simon

[Millet]

Brix 4: If your after sweetness, picking fruit after several days of rain gives fruit with lower Brix levels.

Brix 5: Fruit picked from the south and west side of a citrus tree have higher levels of both sugars and acid.
           Fruit picked from the interior of the tree has less sugars.

[sc4001992]

.

[Bomand]

Because the north wind did its thing. Several trees that I have tower above the roof line of buildings. The North face of the part that projects above the roof never has but a couple of fruits and is subject to twig die back in winter.

[sunny]

Upon further investigation, it looks that humic acid is readily available on amazon not sure if it's essentially the same thing? anyhow, I see a lot of people choose to do a foliar spray. How are you applying it SeaWalnut?

I mix it in the water wich i use to wet the plants( soil).
You can buy from online stores but its expensive stuff usually.
If its too expensive doesnt worth to buy it but if its cheap ,get it and for sure you will like it.
Pyroligneous acid its same as humic and fulvic acid,has both  and the expensive ones come from charcoal mineral deposits.

Wood vinegar costs 3 us$ a litre in thailand.

[SeaWalnut]

Upon further investigation, it looks that humic acid is readily available on amazon not sure if it's essentially the same thing? anyhow, I see a lot of people choose to do a foliar spray. How are you applying it SeaWalnut?

I mix it in the water wich i use to wet the plants( soil).
You can buy from online stores but its expensive stuff usually.
If its too expensive doesnt worth to buy it but if its cheap ,get it and for sure you will like it.
Pyroligneous acid its same as humic and fulvic acid,has both  and the expensive ones come from charcoal mineral deposits.

Wood vinegar costs 3 us$ a litre in thailand.

The one from coal mines is expensive.Wood vinnegar is especially cheap in Asia where people use it a lot.
In Europe ,because its rarely used ,its more expensive.

[Millet]

Brix 6: On crop years produce sweeter fruit than off crop years.

Brix 7: Older citrus trees produce fruit with higher sugar content than young trees.

[Millet]

Brix 8:  Trees grafted upon Rough lemon will have lower TSS (total soluble sugars), less acidity, and less juice content compared to trees grafted upon citranges and trifoliate root stock.

[Walt]

TTS means total soluable solids, I think.
Earlier you said BRIX was a reading of sucrose.  40 years ago when I was a tomato breeder, we (tomato breeders) concidered BRIX to be a good substitute for sugar measurement, as it could be done in the field. But it included glucose, and other sugars.  I don't know which sugars are in citrus.   And high BRIX was indeed related to good flavor.  But at least in tomatoes, there were other things in the juice that affected BRIX readings, and these other things could be good or bad.
This is just an observation.  This wouldn't be the first time my experience with other crops might miss lead me when dealing with citrus.

[SeaWalnut]

Its TDS ( total disolved solids).
Fruits contain mostly fructose wich is sweeter than glucose.
Sucrose is a mix of glucose and fructose.

[Ilya11]

Its TDS ( total disolved solids).
Fruits contain mostly fructose wich is sweeter than glucose.
Sucrose is a mix of glucose and fructose.

False again, citrus sucrose content is 2-3 times higher than that of fructose.
Sucrose is not a mix, it is a disaccharide with its physical and chemical properties different from both glucose and fructose. 

[Millet]

Walt thanks for your point.  TSS means Total Soluble Sugars.  The main sugar in citrus is sucrose.

[SeaWalnut]

Its TDS ( total disolved solids).
Fruits contain mostly fructose wich is sweeter than glucose.
Sucrose is a mix of glucose and fructose.

False again, citrus sucrose content is 2-3 times higher than that of fructose.
Sucrose is not a mix, it is a disaccharide with its physical and chemical properties different from both glucose and fructose.

Ive used bad exprimation.
What i wanted to say its that sucrose can be split into glucose and fructose.
Sucrose its @ 50 percent fructose and the rest glucose.
Results that the main carbohidrate is fructose wich is a lot sweeter than sucrose( sugar).

[Millet]

Splits in human blood.

[SeaWalnut]

Splits in human blood.

It splits in all living things ,plants and animals not just humans because we only need the glucose wich is the fuel of life.Fructose isnt the fuel of life .
And sucrose splits easy into glucose and fructose with just a little acid ,its called invertase.
TSS its TDS actually,a measurement of electrical ressistance to guess the ammount of solids wich are conducting electricity.
Since fruits are mostly water ,the TDS is mainly from sugars.

TDS is correct and TSS is incorect because such measurement of density measures all the solids not only the sugars.There are salts and manny otther solids altough in verry small ammounts in the fruits.

Edit: measuring density with electrical devices does not work for sugars because they are non ionised.My mistake ,but still any density measurement for sugars wich is non electric should still be called TDS because its not just sugars that it measures.

[Ilya11]

Fructose isnt the fuel of life .

Fructose is easily converted into glucose in the organism, moreover it is used directly to synthesize fatty acids serving  as  a "fuel of life"

[SeaWalnut]

Fructose isnt the fuel of life .

Fructose is easily converted into glucose in the organism, moreover it is used directly to synthesize fatty acids serving  as  a "fuel of life"

Fructose is as bad as alcohol for the organism.It is converted in the liver and normally the human liver can process 50 grams of glucose per day and for comparison ,40 grams of alcohol.Both ,consumed in excess cause liver damage
Glucose in pure form is readily available or from sucrose by invertase ( acid).
Worker bees fed only with fructose live 12 days while on regular diet they can live up to 80 days.
We say that fructose ,,wears,, the bees.

[Ilya11]

Very original comparisons, both between fructose and ethanol as well as humans and bees. 

[Walt]

The BRIX meter I used in the field measured the change in polarization of light.  Daylight was polarized by a polarizing film, then the light though the juice, then through a polarizing film  mounted so it would turn.  The amount it turned to let through the most, or least light.  Then you looked at the marks on the dial tp read the BRIX.
Sogars give the most rotation of ihgt in tomato juice, though rotiiens and any other molicule that has either a right hand or left hand form will effect the brix reading.  I don't know if this thimg is still used.  But it was easy to use in the field, and it looked like it wouldn't be expebcive to make.  But I never actually bought one.  A local canning company let me use theirs.
This was in Rep. du Niger in 1980, and ordering one would mot have been easy.

[Millet]

Brix 8:  In GENERAL, the higher the brix count, the better the fruit quality, the healthier the tree, and the fewer pests will attack your tree