permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] High Brix Project
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:10:37 -0500
From: Joel Gruver <jgruv@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

> Project members are growing crops in mineralized soil and comparing them with
> the same crops grown in soil without mineral amendments; comparing the
> Brix and then sending a crop sample in for laboratory testing for
> mineral content. Then we are comparing the lab results with the USDA
> charts. So far we are getting good results, with some crops showing 2
> to 4 times the level of minerals shown in the USDA charts.

A couple questions:
How have you standardized your brix measurements? Same time of day? Only 
on sunny days? Same soil moisture levels?
Lots of factors other than soil fertility impact the dissolved solids in 
plant sap.

Are you having lab analysis done on crops grown in soils with and 
without mineral amendments?

Trace element uptake is extremely variable  - see trace element data in 
Tables 2 and 4 in the article at the following link:

http://www.ipni.net/far/farguide.nsf/926048f0196c9d4285256983005c64de/4dc89dbe85315ab085256f18004f664e/$FILE/NJ-19F%20Nutrient%20Removal.pdf

Only comparing lab results for crops from the mineralized soils with 
USDA chart data is not going to tell you much.

****************************

Are you familiar with the research described below:

"In a collaborative research program initiated in 1978, the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 
(USFDA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) aimed to 
determine the trace element contents of important food crops in the USA, 
and correlate them with soil content and other properties such  as CEC, 
organic carbon, and pH (Wolnik et al., 1983a, b, 1985; Holmgren et al., 
1993). The program targeted heavy metals, but all micronutrients except 
boron were investigated. Crops and soils were sampled from more than 
3000 sites representing more than 300 soil series in important 
agricultural production areas across the conterminous USA."

This excerpt is from an article titled Mapping Soil Micronutrients in 
Field Crops Research Volume 60, Issues 1-2.

Joel Gruver
School of Agriculture
Western Illinois University
jgruv@hotmail.com