How Brix Levels Impact Insect Pressure on Plants | Dr. Thomas Dykstra

Dr. Thomas Dykstra, Laboratory Director of Dykstra Labs and AEA Scientific Advisor, is a trained entomologist with a vast background in agricultural consulting. For years, Tom has been illuminating farmers to the science behind insect pressure and demonstrating why insects do not-and cannot-attack healthy plants.
In our latest webinar, Dr. Dykstra sits down with John Kempf to explain what constitutes a healthy plant, the machinations of insect digestion, and how to use the Leaf Brix chart as a reference guide for any kind of pest pressure.
www.advancingecoag.com/
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[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hello! We appreciate all the discussion that has been centered around this webinar. After an internal review, we have decided to update the title to more accurately reflect the content of the webinar. While the original title was misleading, the content and information in Dr. Dysktra’s presentation remains accurate. Thank you for watching!

[@Selfsufficientme]

This was a great presentation and being an organic home gardener (for a long time now) I can certainly vouch for the overall point that insects don't target healthy plants. So the healthier your plants are the less chance they will be eaten or the life sucked out of them. However, there is a group of insects that do target healthy plants and were not mentioned (I think) in this presentation and that is stinging fruit flies such as the Mediterranean and Queensland fruit flies not to be confused with fermentation fly which was detailed by Dr Thomas. Both of these insects sting unripe and ripening and ripe (just ready to pick) fruits like tomatoes, strawberries, mangoes, cucumbers, etc and lay an egg in the fruit which hatches into a maggot that eats and rots the fruit from the inside. This is a tough pest to control organically and often netting or bagging the fruit is the only way. Anyway, I thought I would mention this possible exception to the rule for interest's sake but apart from that from my experience I totally agree with the overall premise that healthy plants are much less likely to be targeted by pests and that's why I rarely ever need to use even a home remedy organic spray in our garden. Cheers :)

[@tomfromoz8527]

And you should see his gardens! And orchard too... really go see. Hi Mark. Send some of that rain west please? > Tom's wife Pam

[@tinkeringinthailand8147]

I totally agree Mark. My healthy cucumbers and cantaloupe are being decimated by beetles, which are feeding on my nearby watermelon leaves. I have lost over 40 of them so far. I have just discovered Neem oil, which seems to be working a treat. 😎😎

[@apteryx7080]

hi Mark, I'm a big fan of your channel. It would be really interesting if you could do a video on testing your produce with a Brix meter. It's my hunch that our naughty qld fruit fly may only target fruit that is from lower brix plants/trees. His mention of strict no-till contributing to low brix made me wonder if that's the case for some of our fruit trees.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Self Sufficient Me! It's always great to have input from others on such a captivating topic :) - The AEA Team

[@simpinainteasyRHEC]

Self sufficient me you're amazing, I follow your videos, I guess that's probably why I'm seeing this now. 🤗🙂

[@spliffworks]

only just found this vid, as a avid gardener i had noticed insect went for not as healthy, but i was not aware that it had to do with the sugars, and never herd of brix, so thank you for posting this talk

[@oscar6832]

Me too. But I've heard of Brix before. Didn't know sugars are in the leafs though. I was taught that it had to do with the natural insecticides that plants can create/contain. And that insects die eating healthy plants, so they go after the stressed plants instead because their natural 'defense' is weakened.

[@burnswhenpees]

Screen name, and avid gardner goes hand and hand. What's your take on russet mites? Sick plant, healthy plant, makes no difference. Once they dig in, the show's over.

[@rabbitcreative]

Sounds similar to Antoine Bechamp's notion that "bad germs" don't exist in a healthy body (healthy terrain). Cheers.

[@bohdaj]

they do exist, but they are not activated

[@chronos401]

No, "bad germs" do not exist at all. Most of the cells in and on our bodies are microorganisms. Certain bacteria, fungi, and parasites are Mother Nature's recyclers. Like with plants, these creatures multiply and feast on whatever makes us sick and/or whatever body part is sick. Other "healthy" bacteria help us with many things such as to digest and absorb the nutrients from food. V i r u s e s are bogeymen humans created to blame for whatever illnesses. Scientists have never been able to take only the tiny "v i r u s" particles, which they claim cause a disease, and recreate it in a healthy host. They always have to use a toxic mixture to do it. The real culprit is manmade poison. Imagine all the revenues and profits that would be lost if we ever started admitting we've been sickening our own species.

[@beansdork]

@@chronos401 you sounded like you were about to talk some sense but then you said something which should mean that nobody gets sick unless an evil scientist does saucery. bad germs and good germs are all just value judgements that we make on organisms depending on our opinion of them at the time. some are mostly deleterous to our efforts and some are essential for our survival, but, any organism could conceivably cause a problem for a person if it is in the wrong place or state an elephant is a pest if it is standing on you. or eating your entire season's harvest. but we love elephants, they are good.

[@beansdork]

well if they exist in your body and you are healthy, then technically they cant be that bad. if we define 'healthy plants' as plants that are not being eaten by insects, then the clickbait claim is true, but not a useful way to think about it. this video doesnt even do that.

[@roscorude]

Plants and human physiology works remarkably similarly by DESIGN. Blood has iron molecule at center chlorophyll has magnesium, because plants don't move ... So cool john does these and shows gods creation. Chlorophyll closely resembles our red blood cells. Hemoglobin is the pigment that gives our blood its red color, as well as its oxygen-carrying capacity. The hemoglobin of the red blood cell and the Chlorophyll of the plant are virtually identical in molecular structure, with the only difference being the center atom.

[@phillrawrmckrackerlaken3507]

As a budding botanist I found this massively informative and helpful. I don’t usually like long and extended yt videos but I’m thankful I listened. I guess I’m that kinda of foolish yt viewer but not today! I feel upgraded through my listening thanks to you. Good job guys. My thanks are infinite.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Thank you for sticking around, Phill "RAwr" Mckrackerlaken. We're really glad to hear that you enjoyed this webinar and that you were able to get some useful takeaways out of it. Good luck, budding botanist! - The AEA Team

[@LiliansGardens]

Same as me. I've grown tomatoes beautifully for years no insect pests and even I have wondered why. I just tell people who ask me I think my plants have high disease /pest resistance because I use home made compost. Watching this video has taught me each group of insects have the food they eat.

[@saltriverorchards4190]

The information found in this video is worth it’s weight in gold. Thank you so much for putting it together. I will use this info for caring for my orchard.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

We're so glad to hear that you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching! - The AEA Team

[@scottiehildebrandt3255]

I am a certified arborist. I planted 4 carolina cherry laurels in an identical fashion. None of them had shown any appreciable insect damage after about 4 months post-planting. I went on vacation and forgot to put the watering timer on. One of the four plants receives a bit more sunlight. All 4 were parched, but the one with more sunlight had significantly more scorched leaves. I saved them all, however for the next several months now the only one now showing insect damage is the one which had the worst scorching (i.e. greatest stress). They are all putting out new leaves since they scorched, but the new and surviving leaves on the less-scorched three show little to no insect damage. They are planted 5 about 10 feet apart in the same planter.

[@evoliveoil]

How tall are your trees at this time and what are insects doing to them during harvest time?

[@CRHall-ud9mq]

Brilliant podcast, many thanks :-) I know from experience, every word of this is true. Even after 30 years experience as a gardener, it's great to be reminded and have my observations confirmed. There's too much misleading information about, encouraging people to look for quick but short term fixes that often prove to be more distructive long term. Observation, patience and dedication to care to learn from how nature works and working with it, gives long term solutions and success. Listening to such a well presented and in-depth analysis on this subject has taught me a great deal, for which I'm very grateful :-)

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi C.R. Hall, thank you for sharing your experiences. We're very happy to hear that you enjoyed this webinar! - The AEA Team

[@mindydiaz9015]

When I first planted my flowers from seed June bettles ate alot of them. They were perfectly healthy babies. When I turned off my yard lights they stopped. They grew back and spiders moved in now they don't get any damage 😂 the spiders eat all the bugs I love it. I do have some minor leaf miner damage though on a couple of leafs.

[@usingThaForce]

Thats a girl!

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

If you have an ecosystem that can support spiders then you have non spider problems, like in the house Mosquitos, flies I just like saying this so more spiders prevent Malaria! In our battle against predators to the human body!

[@MrDeicide1]

I'll fix yer flowers

[@zarroth]

When I bought this place, it had a LOT of non-native decorative plants and they were constantly having issues with insects. I cut them all out and replaced them with native plants and problems solved. They were inviting the invasive insect species that are also non-native to where I live and have no native predators. With those gone, the orchards and grapes have started producing better as well, with bigger and more vigorous growth and fruit. I also don't have a mono-culture yard. I let clover and dandelions do their work, then die back naturally. Works like a charm.

[@beansdork]

thats interesting. i have been attracting spiders and praying mantis to my plants by attracting flying insects that they then feed on

[@TanyaGray]

What an excellent presentation, thanks so much! This took a bunch of stuff I learned about in my horticulture studies and presented it from the insect perspective and with way more detail, heaps of "aha!" moments as it all clicked together. Really glad I got to watch this.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Thanks for watching, Tanya Gray! We're so happy to hear that you enjoyed it and that you were able to learn something from this webinar. - The AEA Team

[@qkcmnt1242]

I say here, here, me too, Tanya. Thank you AEA team for what you have presented here. We are so blessed to have all the diverging opinions here as well. Shalom, sister.

[@jesstheone231]

So i just finished planting veg in my small front yard bed, trying to find out if these little toads need to get chased off or enticed to stay, and i come across this awesome podcast throwing my hindsight into sharp relief. Once you hear it so meticulously explained on layman's term, it's like, duh. Well maybe next year, because o just finished doing just about EveryThing wrong! Lol. You tube, a burden or a gift? Sooo much (unchecked) info, and you tend to belive the person who sounds the most confidant. You work so hard on your little patch of ground to get a family harvest, and worry and want to fix fix fix, broken or not, even when you know better, because you can't stand to lose! And that's just me and my little garden. What if my livelihood depended on my success? Geez. Thank you farmers for feeding us when we fail (and every other time as well), and thank you for the video. Excellent presentation.

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Toads are awesome! They eat insects, not plants.

[@islandwills2778]

never chase away toads, or spiders for that matter.

[@meganwhitney5818]

Such an informative talk. I finally now understand about Brix levels. We've had our orchard for 8 years and nobody has ever explained it properly. Avocado leaves are very difficult to get any "juice" out of so I lost interest trying to check Brix levels but will keep perservering. I'd love you to do a talk specifically targeting avocado one day soon, just saying :)

[@sunnydays6067]

Thank You so much for the info, I will need to listen to it again because I'm new to gardening this is my 4th time doing a garden but my first time doing it in my own backyard. I still have A LOT TO LEARN.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Eva Borbon, thanks for sharing! We're very happy to hear that this webinar has been helpful for you. Stay tuned :) - The AEA Team

[@GS-nw9dm]

Regarding fruit flies, in my home garden it is quite clear the fruit fly lay their eggs in both fruit approaching ripeness as well as ripe or over ripe fruit. They don’t limit their attack to over ripe fruit. This comment applies to tomatoes and peaches which is what I grow. I have often picked fruit just prior to them being fully ripe and have brought them inside to try and avoid fruit fly but still ended up with maggots in the fruit.

[@codyosborne8926]

They'll lay eggs, but they won't eat it until it's overripe

[@tonydiamond4563]

Raise your brix levels

[@jonathanb6599]

Never knew about leaf Brix, until now. Very informative video, he should do more presentations, and a virtual one that’s live like on zoom or something. I am pursing my B.S at oregon state in crop and soil science specialized in agronomy but now I might want to go towards the horticulture degree just after this video.

[@AntjeCobbett]

Thank you so much for this presentation! I've been growing fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and especially roses most of my life organically and only very occasionally had any problems. Neighbours comment on why my plants are not infested with bugs as I don't spray or add anything but natural fertilizer to them. Compacted soil. Yes. Thank you for pointing that out, I will keep an extra eye out for this. And finally I know now why my indoor plants in winter are not doing too great. UV. Oh, I'm learning all the time and I will be sure to watch ALL of the videos on this channel AND I will buy such a BRIX device for measuring. Thank you again so much! Greetings from Andalucia/Spain.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Antje, we're very happy to hear that you were able to learn new information from this webinar. Thank you for your feedback and for watching our content! - The AEA Team

[@SophyaAgain]

I was amazed by the taste of my home grown tomatoes and okras. So sweet and delicious.

[@sebastiandoerfert8668]

I was not aware of the relationship between Brix value and pest pressure on the plant. That was interesting. I am a microbiologist and have previously worked in the Ag sector. I may be able to explain why there is a poor reading for GMOS: given that it takes 10+ years to bring GMOS to the market, the technology is only used for high volume crops which are grown in monoculture with heavy equipment. This form of agriculture depletes the soil severely. The poor soil can certainly explain the poor brix readings. If regulators would make it easier for GMOS to enter the market, then we would have many more options available, that can be feasible grown in a small farm setting with better soil. In this Environment, the brix should be much higher in the plants. Until we have healed the soil, we can use GMOS to make plants resistant to pests without having the need to spray pesticides that kill bacteria in the soil. Many people would like to solve that problem with biologics. There are some benefits of GMOS over biologics. One example is the fact that nematodes are an important part of the soil microbiome. Some nematodes are plant pests, others are beneficial for the soil. If you have a nematode resistant GMO, then you will only kill the nematodes that try to eat the plant roots. If you apply biologics to the soil to solve the problem, you are killing all nematodes, including the beneficial ones. Biologics are however very important when you want to improve nutrient circulation in the soil, I.e. by providing nitrogen fixing bacteria. The big thing we have to focus on is improving overall soil health. This can be done in many ways. One unrelated aspect that may be worth considering in this discussion is the enormous amount of agricultural area used to feed livestock. It is a very inefficient use of land and thus plays a big role in the question of exhausted soils. If we reduce our animal products consumption, we can afford to use more sustainable methods, on our agricultural land. As long as we need to feed all those animals in factories, we will have a tough time, switching to more sustainable methods and feeding our population…

[@lcunningham1776]

Maybe if we return the animals to the land eating vegetation we will improve the soil health...

[@sebastiandoerfert8668]

@@lcunningham1776 it is possible to improve soil health by letting wild animals graze or by using specific grazing strategies with livestock. We can however not move to a system where we only eat pasture raised animals at our current average meat consumption. Pasture raised livestock simple needs too much space, which we don’t have. I went vegan because I wanted to be more environmentally friendly. Some people ask me, why I didn’t just stop eating factory farmed meat and continued eating pasture raised meat? As a matter of fact, pasture raised meat is worse for the environment than factory farmed meat. It requires more space, which leads to deforestation. Factory farmed cows get often slaughtered at 14 months, whereas pasture raised ones get slaughtered at 22 months. Due to this longer lifespan, the pasture raised meat created more methane and more CO2 per pound of meat. While theoretically on a per pound of meat basis, factory farmed meat is more environmentally friendly, the mixture of economies of scales and ridiculous amounts of subsidies make it so cheap that meat consumption goes through the roof. The added consumption is too much for our planet to handle. In order to have a chance to get a healthy planet, we need to immediately stop all subsidies for animal agriculture. In addition to that, consumption of animal products has to go way down. If we can manage that, we can start reforestation projects in some areas. Improving soil quality needs to happen simultaneously. In some areas, animal can be helpful here, in others, we may want to use other strategies, like clever crop rotation or simply rewinding of the land for a few years, until it is used for food production again.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Thank you for sharing, Sebastian Doerfert, we appreciate your input! - The AEA Team

[@itsokaytobeclownpilled5937]

@@sebastiandoerfert8668 Sigh. You are just repeating the globalist narrative. The Vegan diet is NOT sustainable. Your neurons have deteriorated.

[@FuAzzi]

@@sebastiandoerfert8668 are you factoring in the land needed for feed, for factory raised animals? Are you factoring in the logistical carbon impact of the feed? Are you factoring in the soil health of the feed land compared to a properly run pasture farm? There are many more factors than this. Your formulas for what is good for the environment needs to encompass the entirety of affects.

[@JerryKillian]

I'm not much of a gardener, my wife has the green thumb. She had one mustard type plant that was decimated by caterpillars. I personally learned a lot from you in this video, and feel I can help her fight them critters next season. I look forward to more of your videos.

[@1fast72nova]

What was the reason for the caterpillar attack?

[@concertautist4474]

Fantastic presentation. Cheers for all the research.

[@shyama5612]

I like this presentation a lot. Excellent explanation towards the end on the reproductive stress. The Birx scale is a good indicator as well. All in all - great webinar!

[@kayakMike1000]

Never heard of it.

[@inchristalone25]

I have heard aphids are attracted to plants over fertilized with nitrogen.

[@stevengonzalez7729]

Normally the case. I have stopped using excessive amounts of nitrogen and seen them all disappear

[@lifewantstolive]

Those tender, fast-growing shoots attract insects for sure!

[@rickeshpatel4025]

I’ve done so and experimented by adding more after calming the aphids infestations and they come right back. When you over fertilize in something it usually attracts a hungry critter

[@shaneildyall5498]

They sucks the nitrates and nitrites from the leaves.

[@gtavtheavengergunnerlegend3340]

I think its ammonical nitrogen. I know ammonia attracts them

[@gregridgeway8790]

White flies decimated my Swiss Chard quickly. The whole row went from as crisp and lovely as could be to completely ruined inside of a weeks time. Next the broccoli, trashed it all. They didn't seem very interested in the collard greens until mid December when there was precious little else after a couple of hard freezes. Not long after it warmed up a little I noticed the collards which had been peacock proud were looking a little wilted. Lo and behold, the little bastards are swarming the collards now that they've sweetened up real nice. Just tuned into the video and I'll hear you out but from the start, I'm not buying the no competition bit at all. Now that I think about it, there is a nasty brown caterpillar worm that seems to fancy my favorite variety of tomatoes as well. Out of the five types I planted it seemed to only go after the beef steak but if I wanted any of them I had to harvest them while they were still green or I was late to the dance. They burrow in deep and make a mess out of them long before they are even half ripe.Suffice to say I haven't been applying anything onto the foliage and while I have used some small amount of fertilizer I generally just top dress with compost.

[@jettyeddie_m9130]

Thank you guys for another great webinar 🤠

[@winsomewife7112]

How about cabbage moth larvae? Do the moths never lay eggs in amazingly healthy broccoli & kale plants, kohlrabi, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and of course cabbage?

[@alanwong9280]

Ok. I got through to the Q & A section. After listening to the whole thing, I’ve gained an appreciation for the presentation. The info on brix (bricks(?) was edifying. I still have a problem w/ the phraseology that insects “Can’t” eat healthy plants. All you have to do is find one one and the argument goes out the window.Species on species predation is opportunistic. Just like I am sure, one can find perfectly healthy humans, you. Can also find a species like Ebola that can attack as this healthy individual has no defense against it, so can you find a perfectly healthy plant w/ a brix reading of 18 that that has no natural defense against and that invasive species can dominate and decimate the ecosystem. I can see though how important your indicator is in plant health in different parts of a plants life cycle.

[@brandensworld3646]

Yeah bugs might be swayed away from healthy plants but they 100% do. Hell, put them together in a closed place and I’m sure they will eat it eventually if not right away

[@MattyJohn146]

Brilliant presentation, very helpful thank you.

[@chrisholding2382]

This guy need to do more videos he's got a inquisitive mindset and true scientist. Great presentation blew my mind when you said we love numbers. real 58

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

We're so glad you enjoyed this discussion, Chris Holding. Thanks for watching! - The AEA Team

[@dietrevich]

To truly prove this you would need to get a cultivar, variety or hybrid that's is known to be prone to insect attack and then by increasing its brix show that none will attack it, otherwise this is speculation and hypothesizing. In my opinion and experience resistance is tied to genetics and genetic environment interaction. I've grown different varieties of corn, as many as 20 concurrently, and one can definitely see this effect when even sap analysis show them all to be in the same range. Some will have insect attack it, others won't and some would be in between. In nature there ate very few things that are absolute, to issue a blanket statement such that "all insects " act and react to brix this way is to dismiss evolution. Insects and plants are constantly in an arms race to outcompete each other, which drives in part this evolutionary process. So genetics is a main contributor to this, the reason why as you said in natural landscape plants are not attacked overwhelmingly by insects, they have evolved with this insects and why invasive insect overwhelmingly attack them, they didn't coevolved with them. Agricultural plants have not evolved in this scenario fighting off insects, instead have coevolved with us, and as such r have baby them as we would children protecting them and overriding their need to evolve defenses against insect and as such make them weaker which is in part what domestication entails, their dependence on us. That's the difference between wild plants and crops, two very different upbringings. Same reason why a mutt is healthier than a breed dog.

[@theplantopinion8189]

take a microbial bioassay. u will get ur answer

[@dietrevich]

@@theplantopinion8189 a microbial assay on what?

[@forestrussell-yount1355]

@@dietrevich probably your dirt

[@beansdork]

how can you still be sceptical of the hypothesis, when there are so many examples in this video of instances which do not falsify it?

[@UGPepe]

beansdork (unless you were being ironic) the problem is with instances that do falsify it

[@Liesbeth22]

Second reaction, but thanks to you, I now know why my sugar went bad when I tried to breed certain insects and invertebrates indoors for a hedgehog. The soil living insects attract microbes that love sugar. 50 percent sugar in the soil, so I guess the breeding ground was good, too good, I had a microbe plague. Now I finally know why this happened. Thank you! I was riddled by this. And those microbes made the sugar taste weird and made us sick for a couple of days, I had to throw it all out, everything sugar out. I got rid of all insects living in 'wet' conditions and only kept mealworms and lo and behold, nothing else went bad. No one was ever able to solve this for me. But you have now. Thank you!! 🙏❤️

[@beansdork]

were you mixing sugar into soil, breeding insects in it, and then eating the sugar? i have so many questions.

[@Liesbeth22]

@@beansdork haha, nooooo! I just had them in my studio. The mold just spread throughout the house. I wouldn't eat soil to begin with, let alone where there's bugs and mold in it😂

[@kumarnitish5115]

@@beansdork breeding the insects to feed hedgehog

[@zazugee]

@@kumarnitish5115 he thought he was sonic the hedgehog xd

[@kumarnitish5115]

@@zazugee 😂

[@noplacelikehome9116]

Fascinating! Thanks for the great information and well thought out presentation.

[@ssstults999]

This was great! Never heard this info before and I'm arming myself with it next year. THANK you

[@marcelorezendebastos]

Thank you Dr. Dykstra. I have been reading and studying in the last 10 years about Dr. Carey Reams and William Albrecht . Could you please share your experience using EC meter and pH meter with BRIX meter sap plants samples as well? I have a lot of doubts how to implement a plan of nutritional analysis using them?

[@iretonjeff2559]

I like how he thinks we should not play God; that seems to be a problem many people have, as though they have some right or duty to spray this or that poison for this or that reason but they don't actually know what they're talking about or what the consequences of their actions are beyond what they see themselves and point to.

[@iretonjeff2559]

@Thomas Pickens God put all things under man's dominion; there's nothing wrong with trying this or that, or making some new hybrid plant. What there is something wrong with, is for example how bill gates plans to "blot out the sun" so to speak, as if he knows best, and should use his power and control to do things which could have such far reaching effects as to theoretically disturb the natural order and cycle of the environment of millions and billions of people. The same thing applies with his vaccines, we could quite literally, though this is a stretch, but we could quite literally end up with what amounts to zombies as a result of such an experiment. If someone wants to spray highly concentrated chemicals or mixtures thereof on their own property, they are welcomes to do it, but when you start pushing it onto other people through various means, then is it not wrong? And when people advocate for this or that to be done when they don't actually know what needs to be done, what can be said about those people? They are not experimenting with new weed control measures on land they own, they are trying to convince others to do something which may or may not be a good thing to do.

[@CC-jy4gr]

@@iretonjeff2559 you could even say you dont know

[@iretonjeff2559]

@@CC-jy4gr what do you mean?

[@iretonjeff2559]

@Thomas Pickens repent and turn to the Lord.

[@iretonjeff2559]

@Thomas Pickens what is bizarre, point it out please.

[@LouisStanford]

This was a fantastic presentation, thank you!

[@CrossroadToCountry]

Great data! Thanks for taking the time to share.

[@GreenIsTheWayForward]

If a piece opens with "The scientist that keeps telling all other scientists in his field that they are wrong, but they won't listen", the odds are overwhelming that you have hit a piece of pseudoscience. An industry might have problems with new information and want to suppress it; science however will pretty much always be open to new ideas. If your findings are ignored or even actively resisted by other scientists in your field, your stuff probably doesn't make sense. Remember that anyone with an above average brain and some dedication and money can get a title, it's not a guarantee you are still always doing science afterwards. There are literally millions of insect species that all have different roles; some will eat healthy plants, others failing ones, and again others dead plants. Redefining all plants that are preyed upon as 'unfit' or 'failing' just renders fitness meaningless. It's a circular argument. If a plant's fitness is defined by it being eaten or not, you have a theory that will ALWAYS PROVE ITSELF (it is eaten, thus unfit and should have been eaten) and CANNOT BE DISPROVEN nor can it predict future events. Not science. Extra info: I studied philosophy of science in university as part of my philosophy studies. And some anecdotal evidence contradictory to this piece: aphids and caterpillars always seem to hit the healthiest plants, I rarely see them on failing ones. I actually see them as a sign that my plants are doing well. These insects totally compete with me for food, they for example eat my cabbages before I can. I have no clue what this guy is talking about when he says we don't compete with insects for food. Has he ever had a veggie garden?

[@inigomontoya8943]

Wait until you discover the pharmaceutical industrial complex. The wide world of journals refusing to publish results like Iver mectin’s efficacy just to quietly confirm it years later. $cience is by no means the beacon of truth and fairness you seem to think it is.

[@fredvanleeuwen9996]

I do not think it is all that deterministic. In my opinion it is more a matter of probability; the healthier your plants the less risk of fatal pest manifestations and vice versa.

[@islandwills2778]

it also depends on climate and what type of pests you may encounter. For example growing up we had a real problem with Colorado potato beetles because they were not a native pest, nothing would predate on them so you had to fight a constant war against them or risk having your potato plants become bug food. there was two main methods, there was a weed that they actually prefered over the potato so we would just let that weed grow whenever possible and the less fun method was inspecting each plant for the beetle and killing it and any eggs we found. This had to be done every other day for weeks to ensure that we killed enough of the population to protect our crops. And there is no way your going to convince me that our potato crops were unhealthy plants.

[@friedrichdostoyevsky491]

Indicators for height, flower, root spread, color, etc... are relative to each plant being observed. A rose flowering is not, in deed, a good indicator for how tall a oak tree is supposed to be ; yet it is a spanking good indicator of rose plant health. Not trying to insult you. Your take on insects targeting weak, dying, and dead plant material is spot on.

[@friedrichdostoyevsky491]

…and seeing insects as indicators of environmental and plant health is beautiful and useful.

[@LawnmowinJunkie]

Man, this is exactly what I needed to listen to! Now everything makes sense. I was looking for an objective (not subjective) method of evaluating plant health and now I have found it.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

This is great to hear, Brian Beck. Enjoy your observations! - The AEA Team

[@bfrommars]

Thank you so much I wish I had this explained to me years and years ago xx

[@jmfarms3555]

What about grasshoppers? They seem to like the green vegetation better. So do they only eat unhealthy plants or the healthy ones?

[@jonvought700]

The video answers this. Grasshoppers will indicate relatively healthy plants.

[@beansdork]

@sprock i have to keep reminding myself not to be upset about this video, because its not just the clickbait mis info. its the way it looks at first, like there are theories argued and evidence shown and experiments replicated and stuff, as though it was all sciencey. so i think i am going to learn something useful about insects or plants, and instead i learn that the most harmful of the misinformation about regenerative farming seems to be coming from its strongest proponents

[@beansdork]

@sprock if the techniques are based on dogma and superstition and people who want to sell instruments, then we are unlikely to be doing anything the best way. i am also looking for ways to improve my influence on our environment, and i like it when i find someone has done some science for a change.

[@robertling9872]

Thank you Thomas for your clear presentation.

[@ItsLady_Ray]

This was a great informative presentation as well. I appreciate it!

[@BonnieBlue2A]

I am currently taking a Master Gardener course through my state University Extension Center. We have not touched upon ANY of this in either the entomology or the plant sections. Thank you for this valuable information.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

We're so glad that you enjoyed this discussion, BonnieBlue! Thanks for watching :) - The AEA Team

[@Mike-ki7zt]

Master gardeners only discuss science-backed facts and recommendations. If they don't discuss it, there's no science behind it. If they don't know about it, tell them and the university professors will look into it. Companies reach out to them all the time trying to get them to endorse their stuff. If they still don't discuss it, the science was flawed.

[@Mike-ki7zt]

This looks like a pretty easy claim (title of the video) to test. I'd be humored to see this guy test the brix of a plant to be let's say a score of 15 in the morning. Then place aphids near it and see the aphids eat it at let's say noon. And then claim the brix of the plant changed since the morning time. But this wouldn't happen cuz you can test the plant while it's getting eaten. So I'm looking forward to the next video that goes over the various insect-to-plant tests that have been conducted with a nodding master gardener scientist in the room, and I hope the whole defensive intro to this video is left out because it's not needed and doesn't make sense anyway, that is, the claim that food scraps aren't human food.

[@charlesissleepy]

@@Mike-ki7zt so the aphids would have to be planted on the high brix plant? I think the idea is that insects target unhealthy pants, so your "experiment" does nothing to invalidate the claim

[@lxXxSTARxXxl]

This is conspiracy stuff, don't use KZbin as a source for information, too many back yard scientists who make too much stuff up. This is nonsense. This is also the issue with KZbin, anyone can make a video claiming anything and brainwash a generation. They do this for click, (money). Not to teach you something. This is also why your university will not allow you to cite KZbin as a source. If it was truly ground-breaking, he would have a live audience not trying to convince a bunch of click baited idiots on KZbin :)

[@GD-qn7xo]

great presentation! even for a beginner gardener like me perfect needed education, the only suggestion right now would be how to balance the various heavy nutrients that potentially conflict with one another for plants that need diffrent PH levels, thank you.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Thanks for watching, G D. We also appreciate your suggestion for a future discussion! - The AEA Team

[@diogosilva2475]

Absolutely extraordinary presentation. I have witnessed the brix effect on the plants. But only now, have I fully understood what was going on. Thanks for sharing this gem.

[@zbigniewpilipczuk8864]

That's great video. I am glad I have listened it. I am not even a farner, I live in the city but this explains a lot to me i.e. why birds and bats populations are decreasing dramatically in last decades in my area. Now I am going to watch "the orange story". Really, it makes me I want to buy some cropp land and give it back to the nature. Thanks a lot.

[@frankholzman7087]

Insects have a more carbon diet. Healthy plants have resilience, secondary metabolites that have built in defense mechanisms. On top of that serious insect and disease problems are indicators of an imbalance in the ecosystem. My book; Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming.

[@workinprogress5821]

Where do I find your book

[@frankholzman7087]

@@workinprogress5821 It is available all over the world. Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming. It is also in many public and academic libraries.

[@just1john]

Looking forward to the presentation covering citrus plants. I returned from Cuba where it seems a decade or so ago, their citrus crops got "attacked" and were ultimately destroyed. :( I have my theories on how/who/what, but does this correlate with the large percentage of mosquitos they must endure? Great presentation and see you again soon.

[@grantperkins368]

Interesting. What was it?

[@alessandrorivera7468]

It was a virus called HLB that was propagated by a sap sucking insect whom i dont recall the name of

[@aliensatemybabysitter1138]

This information helped me so much to get a better understanding of the balance, This year I've had a Thrips explosion on my houseplants and in one night I've stopped them dead in there tracks just by adjusting the calcium lvls, all the leaves are back to a shining shimmer. thx so much

[@ariannasantina]

the bit about the store bought tomatos rung so true to me. i used to think thats just what tomatos tasted like but after i started organic gardening annd growing my own healthy organic tomatos i realized how much actual flavour they have... why tomatos are called FRUIT and they actually ARE as sweet as fruits... i cant even eat store bought tomatos anymore because they are just tasteless. i dont eat tomatos at all in the wintertime (except for my sauces that i jar from the previous seasons tomatos) i have to wait til summertime and only eat my own homegrown ones. im still a little lost on the topic though 'cause i know i always have healthy plants UNTIL the bugs start coming. squash bugs and vine-borers are the worst culprits i usually deal with. right now ive had huge healthy looking squash plants that are trailing out all over and putting out flowers and the beginnings of small growing squashes galore... super healthy as far as i can tell, honestly some of the biggest bodest looking plants ive had in a while and, while the bugs havent been AS big of an issue with them, i did see yesterday that the vine borers showed up. (i caught one big red borer-moth and found a few spots where small nearly microscopic borers were starting to chew and bore their way into the vine (i pulled them out where i could find them and sprayed the rest of the vines with thuricide)... but yea i honestly dont think the vine borers care how healthy the plant is. the 'borers' themselves are the larvae that would later turn into the moth. the moth lays their egg/larvae on the plant and wherever the egg hatches is where the borer will just start chewing its way inside the plant as soon as it hatches. then it devours the plant from the inside out if you dont catch it fast enough. if you dont notice them, the plant will look fine to begin with and all of a sudden wilt and die if the borer gets to chewing thru the main vine/stem. common 'beginner gardener' folly not to check for them. ive been organic gardening for years now and know to check for them and what to look for (small yellowy/orange 'chew holes' that kind of look like wet 'sawdust' coming out of the holes. ... you see that on your plants, gaurantee a borer is inside. ) they usually show up in late june to early july and you want to watch your plants closely , lift and and examine the vines and leaf stems to check for them because once they really get into the plant they are hard to remove and they do a lot of damage. (you literally have to do careful surgery on the plant to get them out! ... and they are super gross looking too lol. fat white smooshy grubs when they get big. when they're small its not a big deal tho i can barely see them but can look closely to find them and just smoosh em between my fingers.... cant smoosh them like that when they get big or i think i would gag lol.

[@savvapouroullis7927]

Very interesting and informative. This idea that different insect types will arrive at different ranges of health in the plant may present a diagnosis opportunity here. For example, is it valid to give the plant a health range if you see a grasshopper munching on it as opposed to one of the low health stage insects?

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

This is a really interesting line of thought, Savva. Thanks for sharing! - The AEA Team

[@paulbraga4460]

my question to Dr. Thomas Dykstra would have been - how to use the refractometer, the best way...blessings to all

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Paul Braga, thanks for your question! You may find this information from the BioNutrient Food Association to be particularly helpful: bionutrient.org/site/bionutrient-rich-food/brix - The AEA Team

[@paulbraga4460]

@@AdvancingEcoAgriculture just checked the link you sent - wonderful. have a great one - from the Philippines where we cannot get a hold of your products haha huhuhuhu. blessings

[@heinzkitzvelvet]

As pure anecdote, it this very moment, July 14, 2022, I have two raised, 4'x8' garden beds in my back yard. I put the beds down and used oak tree leaves that were sitting in the back yard, composting, for 3 years, as a base. Next, I used grass clippings that I had dumped in small piles, starting just this year. Finally, I topped it off with about 30 bags of "putting soil" from our local supermarket, which coincidentally, smelled heavily of manure, with visible wood chips mixed in. We planted several veggies out there. Many didn't come up, the ones that have are absolutely breaking out of the garden beds. I have to prune the limbs to get them out of the yard so I can mow. When I cut them, water drips out, there are virtually no bug bites on the healthy plants. There are some plants that are struggling and they are severely bug bitten. What's most interesting to me is, I have used ZERO fertilizer whatsoever, ZERO pesticide/insecticide, and ZERO weed control. Other than the Bermuda Grass that's popping up, from the ground, along the edges of the beds, there are ZERO weeds. That, I cannot understand. Why are there no weeds? I would think, in that rich soil environment, there would be weeds everywhere, but there are none.

[@lilchurro3]

It's so awesome to be able to learn this, as a hobbyist gardener with no background at all in soil science.

[@chargermopar]

Some nonsense here too. Insects eat any plant they can digest. A healthy ECOSYSTEM is what keeps insects in smaller numbers. Many monoculture plants are more vigorous and healthy than their wild counterparts because they have no competition. I have seen sickly plants barely touched by pests while healthy ones were eaten- the tomato is a very good example. Hornworms thrive in healthy gardens but in gardens with plenty of birds and parasitic wasps the hornworms barely make a dent. In a pine forest only sick pine trees are eaten while the healthy ones fight them off. healthy trees have a network of fungi and bacteria that make it harder for the bugs to multiply. Sawflies tend to eat healthier trees but the birds in a healthy ecosystem eat them fast. My garden was plagued by june bugs for years, but once ducks settled in the june bugs are all but gone. The measuement presented of how to determine plant health is something I have never seen before. Good information on soil bacteria, I have seen first hand how the use of herbicides destroys fertility. GMO crops always fail when in a wild environment if plants cannot breed they will become extinct. As a Floridian myself it is interesting how you explained why my bananas tast so different than store bought. Same with the tomatoes. My gardens have no weeds and have not for over 20 years. health soil and gardens do not allow weeds to exist it seems,

[@MrDeicide1]

What we call "weed" are just soil-repair plants, which thrive in unbalanced soils. "Weeds" repair soils, by binding nutrients the soil lacks.

[@tvviewer4500]

Here they are talking about particular plants. When photosynthetic plants become unable to transport magnesium ions - then the bacteria and fungi move in.

[@tenesol]

different plants attract different insects, so actually if you plant your vegetable garden and don't remove the other plants, the insects will not damage the vegetable plants so much, but your vegetables won't be as big and great in numbers, that is the problem....greed, always has always will be

[@melvinmedina3420]

I do not see any nonsense in this video.

[@Phyto.]

Finally, someone with some scientific sense.

[@lcunningham1776]

Thank you for your info from your entomology viewpoint. A nice additional piece to the grand puzzle of nature in this post flood world. Keep observing and sharing. Every piece helps.

[@StacySelah]

Best tips I’ve found yet! New gardener, sew all the info helps us heaps! Thanks for posting this! Shalom from Florida 🕊🪔🕊

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

We're glad you enjoyed it, Stacy! Thanks for watching :) - The AEA Team

[@MAKAWELI187]

Thanks for the presentation, didn't know education could be so informative, and entertaining. Interesting and useful Thanks for your knowledge.

[@zartech-info]

While I agree with most, I have difficulty believing a japanese beetle is eating my roses because they are dying. They are in great shape have high brix and I have been using permaculture for over 10 yrs. Japanese beetle still a problem.

[@subtropicalpermaculture]

Are they killing them ?

[@rainspringing]

@@subtropicalpermaculture Tile I clicked on says "Why insects do not (and cannot) attack healthy plants". Japanese Beetles, just for starters, have never respected this statement and still have to be plucked off all the time. Something does eat them, probably birds, occasionally, because you find glittery debris, but not in such a way that there is no need to interfere.

[@christiebussey1285]

This is great info! I was curious as to what causes insects to eat the vegetation and you opened my mind to the fact that "insects don't feed on a healthy plant" WOW! That makes so much sense because every plant within the same vicinity is not being targeted so why is that one (IT's unhealthy), Who knew??🤔

[@piousminion7822]

Don't listen to the clown in the video. The sick plant has bugs because the bugs made the plant sick. lol The bugs aren't on the healthy plants because if they were, the plant wouldn't be healthy anymore. This clown has his cause and effect reversed.

[@mrzoinky5999]

Insects eat vegetation - Because they are hungry.

[@bruceparker6142]

Or they taste better.

[@kenkirkland5927]

GREAT PRESENTATION- THANK YOU AEA!!

[@pismobiics825]

Very valuable information, thank you so much!

[@joyceobeys6818]

Where I used to live, I had the healthiest Concord grape vine n a very healthy rose vine and the Japanese beetles went after it every year, did the same thing in two different states. They were very healthy. This year I have the beetles going after the healthy giant elephant ears. They are healthy.

[@tomahawkmissile241]

what are they going after. Takes a detection of an item to do science? Are you trimming the plants are they being attack when blooming, have you tried the brix scale healthy could be good for a grass hopper but for a beetle it could be after the water. Welcome to understanding the environment. Any one that owns a pool knows how many beetles end in a pool trap.

[@bobgatewood5277]

I think that, as with basically anything in this world, things aren't that simple, things usually aren't this black or white, there's definitely a nuance at play. For example, it might be that, ill plants give off certain volatilites that insects can pick up, which signal the presence of a given species of plant (the air is astoundingly saturated of biochemical signals we just aren't suited to pick up), which certain species of insects have evolved to feed off when something is wrong with them (for example, boring insects are very attracted to injured palm trees, because at the center of their trunk lies a very nutritious tissue). Diseased and/or injured plants thus, may just merely have their most nitrient rich tissues more exposed and/or vulnerable, so insects veer towards them because it is an easier meal (most insects can't bore their way inside a plant, it is too well armored, so they go for softer parts, such as leaves). It's not that healthy plants cannot represent a meal to them as well, for the variable at play is the exact same as predators going for the weak, easy kill. Oh but boring insects (such as termites), if given the chance (especially of they lack of predators, which deforestation causes), will definitely chew up an entire, healthy plant no problem.

[@b17vic]

This Brix stuff is all new to me, very interesting. I searched for this channel today after listening to Dr Thomas Dykstra on the Humaley podcast earlier today. Great work, thank you 👏🏻👍🏻

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Vic, it's great to hear that you found this information to be of value. We appreciate your feedback! - The AEA Team

[@LiliansGardens]

i have found this video a very useful eyeopener. I've grown tomatoes and peppers beautifully for years with no insect pests and even I have wondered why. I just tell people who ask me I think my plants have high disease /pest resistance because I use home made compost, pinch and prune dead leaves etc. Watching this video has taught me each group of insects have the food they eat and most eat overipe fruits or broken leaves. Thanks so much for this lengthy and very informative video . Secondly thanks for that lecture on the aphids. They call the ants unto my cherry tree. I always wondered why aphids have sugary poo, now I know it's to stop them being candied....THE GREEDY GREEDY OVEREATERS. i HAVE TO BATTLE THE ANTS OFF MY CHERRIES AND MY ROSES.

[@jackluedtke6432]

you are a nhighgeur

[@gardenlifelove9815]

The refractometer is mainly for testing the viscosity and ppm percentage of a solution in water. I have used them for testing machine oil coolant in water for cnc machines and oil viscosity is water soluble oils. There are many many uses for this tool.

[@kevindelisle9802]

Does this topic also apply to host plants like milkweed for monarchs and dill for swallowtails? Does the mom butterfly look for a stressed plant (low brix) or a super health (high brix) that is packed with nutrition [for the new larva to feed on (added)]. Perhaps this is the exception to the premise that strong health plants can withstand all that chewing.

[@paulbraga4460]

great day! great question!

[@billsmith2593]

@Kevin DeLisle are they considered insects? 🤔

High brix content makes the bugs drunk as they do not have a pancreas to convert sugar to energy. Sugar ferments and creates alcohol making the silly bug food for the birds. I am sure butterflies have a method to understand the sugar levels like an inbuilt refractometer.

[@whatablissfullife]

Locust perhaps is a better example. I tend to dismiss absolutists claims that say everyone is wrong except me and a few handpicked others. So I lasted 20 seconds

[@jamesspry3294]

I think you are confusing eating the plant itself, with drinking the nectar or pollen etc. Butterflies don't eat the plants...

[@thegourmetgardenschool]

Very informative and information rich- THANK YOU AEA and Tom Dykstra. I really trust this info and I'm challenged by critics of this saying there's no peer reviewed proof. Are there any journals or published papers that I could be guided to please so that I may support these claims better myself? Thank You:)

[@pelin5306]

brilliant presentation! and very easy to understand. thank you so much!! can you please do a video on the specifics of how an ordinary backyarder can increase Leaf Brix at each stage in order to keep the levels up to over 14 in a permaculture setting. would highly appreciate it. thanks

[@mmccrownus2406]

I have listened to a lot of John's talks and I think he would stress foliars. And avoiding mistakes in nitrogen and fertilizing.

[@Nightowl5454]

My father has what I think is called wire worms that attack his garlic roots and which destroys the bulbs. Is there anything that you'd suggest on how to deal with this pest? Another slightly different problem than a pest is he always has severe problems with blight on his tomato plants. I know the fact that rototilling is and destroying the soil structure is definitely counter productive, I have at least convinced him to start planting rye in the fall, but haven't convinced him yet to go full no till. Serenade seems to help reduce it in my garden, mine doesn't get it as bad because I don't rototill much at all. Any suggestions other than keep trying to convince him no till is going to help him?

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Bryan, you have some great questions here. Your best bet would be to contact our Customer Care Team at either [e-mail] or 800-495-6603 ext 344 so that they can advise you on how to manage these pesky pests. Thanks and good luck! - The AEA Team

[@Nightowl5454]

@@AdvancingEcoAgriculture thank you😁

[@islandwills2778]

you want to occasionally till your soil if your adding anything to amend it like compost. I dont know about wire worms... but as for blight, there are two main causes that i have seen. 1 is a disease, if thats the case you wont be able to plant tomatoes for years in that location. we had a case of blight on our farm caused by a plant virus that wiped out an entire crop of peppers and the government ordered us to destroy the crop and forbid farming for 5 years on that land of any peppers or related crops. the other cause is just a problem with the soil, to much acid, to little acid or some other nutritional deficiency.

[@Nightowl5454]

@@islandwills2778 that's called crop rotation. Focusing on healthy soil will help with the disease problems. Someday I may be able to send some of my Dad's plants out for sap analysis and also convince him to convert to no-till.

[@Treehandler]

In the Northeast where I live, we had back to back years of entire districts stripped of all leaves as well as pine needles due to caterpillars. I would imagine that it was more due to the sheer number of caterpillars and the lack of “low hanging fruit” that they had to eat anything they could. Walking down some roads was like walking through a pig pen, easily an inch of caterpillar droppings blanketed the ground below the trees

[@grovermartin6874]

Derek Valentim I remember a time in (I think) 1981 - 1982 when the gypsy moth caterpillars stripped the forests bare, especially the oaks, which were dominant where I lived. Their droppings sounded like a gentle rain on the roof, they fell to the ground at night and oozed their way up the outside of houses and trees in the morning, their droppings made flat surfaces slippery, and the smell was revolting. Nightmarish. Was that the time you are referring to, or were there more?

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

That definitely sounds like a challenging situation. Thank you for sharing! - The AEA Team

[@Treehandler]

@@grovermartin6874 sorry for the late response, KZbin turned off my notifications! This was actually in the last 5 years, they were even eating the pine needles when they ate up all leaves. I was working as a bucket operator for a tree company at the time and can’t tell you how many caterpillars I had to slap off the back of my neck. The trees were all bare by August but within a couple months the leaves were back. Lots of white oak trees have died since, I’d imagine the stress Of regrowing leaves during the hottest time of year had something to do with it. Will never forget walking through their droppings like walking on peanut butter

[@nicolasbertin8552]

Derek, usually trees do poorly when planted alone, or in a single species forest. This is true of shrubs as well. Here in Europe, the Box Tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis), is decimating box trees everywhere. Except not everywhere. They only decimate them in areas where they are mass planted, clipped to keep a certain asthetically pleasing shape like in French gardens. When you plant boxes amongst other plants, they do fine. They are probably healthier thanks to micorrhizae and from not being pruned as much. I expect it was the same with your trees. Maybe it was a mass planting with no other plants around, maybe they were pruned too much, maybe the variety was not adapted to your local soil and it weakened it. Healthy forests have many species of trees and are very resilient to droughts, fires, insects, etc... Spruce beetles that are rampant in the US and Canada also do less damage in diverse forests. Beetles will attack unhealthy trees first. So in a way, they are helping us have stronger, more resilient forests.

[@ItsLady_Ray]

That’s really cool scientifically speaking but uhm I can’t imagine living through that… 🤭🤣👀

[@pardonthedank]

Great presentation & information!

[@regeneratelifeacres6348]

Thank so much for this vital information!

[@NannetteBlair]

Cool video! Question. Do the defensins come from, or occur, in the range of the secondary metabolites?

[@qkcmnt1242]

I for one wish I understood your question better, Nanette.

[@NannetteBlair]

@@qkcmnt1242 what I mean by defensins are the compounds that give the plant the ability to defend itself. So my question is does this occur during the secondary metabolite stage or range. I have a refractometer and I stopped using it a while back because now I can see when the plants are at peak self defense (ninja mode). I don’t spray anything ever and during their peak Brix range it is plain to see with the naked eye. A grass hopper will rest on the leaf but not eat. It’s so freaking cool. When the plant is suffering through or just in survival mode I can see that too. The pests will attack.

[@katrinaschultz8493]

Defenses

[@NannetteBlair]

@@katrinaschultz8493 yes defensins are a type of defense/s

[@beansdork]

it does not follow from all the examples of insects which eat decaying vegetation, that no insects will or can eat food which we want to eat. i am amazed that i find myself feeling the need to say that. also , surely if you want to use something as an indicator of an organism's health, you would consider it in the context of what you would expect for that species. Some examples are given here of some substances that insects theoretically cant digest, but that does not mean that no insects will eat plants that contain some substances that the insects cant digest.

[@UGPepe]

yeah I noticed that too, how can you compare trees with shrubs for height as they have different genetic potentials

[@beansdork]

@@UGPepe thats also something wrong with all of this. the main problem is that it seems to be all just a narrative that someone likes, and has hardly any overlap with objective reality, but aside from it all being made up, even if it was reality based science, it would have to be all far more specific to individual cases. its all so generalised like we are 5 years old or something. actually i would never lie to a child like this either

[@beansdork]

​@sprock its a strawman argument. you can get a bit of an idea that a plant is healthy by looking at it's growth, and nobody thinks you do so by just assuming the tallest plant ios the healthiest, regardless of species

[@beansdork]

@sprock i dont think anyone other than this brix guy does. its a bad faith argument

[@beansdork]

@sprock its a good point you have there and i am pretty sure that more people can immediately conceive of a tall unhealthy plant than that know that you could have a low brix healthy plant

[@loboalamo]

I feel GRATEFUL! Thank you.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

You are so welcome. Thanks for watching! - The AEA Team

[@melvinmedina3420]

Most Excellent. Thank you from an employee with the USDA and New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

It's our pleasure, Melvin Medina! Thank you for watching and for [hopefully] incorporating some of this information into the work you're doing! - The AEA Team

[@danielbrown8105]

On the Emerald Ash Borer - it is my understanding that every tree that is in their current range will eventually by killed by it - kind of like what happened to the Chestnut Tree - It seems like there are examples of the genetics not being able to select fast enough to a foreign species. So genetics probably plays a large role in this.

[@MrMichaelStangl]

Look at the whole picture, what disturbances had there been, carbon levels, plant succession, location, and so on…..

[@davidthomson802]

@@MrMichaelStangl exactly

[@roscorude]

What non native EMF Levels have these had to quickly adapt to?

[@lcunningham1776]

Also must have a migratory cycle, young ash trees are groing here again.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

This is really interesting, Daniel Brown. Thank you for sharing and contributing to the conversation around this topic! - The AEA Team

[@justinfranks6470]

Thank you for this presentation. This plus Dr. Ingam’s presentation on soil microbes has helped me understand so much more about my plant health! Thank you!

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Justin, you're welcome, we're glad you enjoyed this webinar! - The AEA Team

[@jamesspry3294]

I second that!

[@fugueine]

Thank you for giving me the information to convince my boyfriend that yes, it is important to use the organic fertilizer with microbes on a frequent basis to keep the plants healthy. Beautifully presented. So appreciated.

[@OwlMoovement]

The UV deficiency comment really helped me. I've been having trouble with my basil transplants, started indoors under artificial light, and have been suspecting that an absence of exposure to UV light early in their lives. Although I tried to harden off my first cohort with limited exposure during the day to sunlight, often overcast, even those which did not exhibit clear sunscald were chlorotic, dropping leaves, bitter, stunted, and failed to take hold once transplanted, many succumbing to apparent damping off. I started a second cohort in anticipation of their failure and put them in a heated outdoor nursery as soon as they emerged. Night and day. Despite a month's late start, the second cohort was already bigger, a deeper green, and visibly less stressed in every way. The slugs are still going after them, however, so this video's suggesting that there's still some room for improvement. Thanks for the excellent content!

[@canadian9628]

Slugs are not insects or even arthropods. They have a hepatopancreas and can actually digest sugars.

[@OwlMoovement]

@@canadian9628 Dangit. I was worried about that, given the beer trap thing. Looks like I'll have to look at a few other options. Maybe build some ground beetle habitat and set a beer trap or two to lure the slugs to it. Thank for setting that straight, Eddy!

[@canadian9628]

@@OwlMoovement Slugs also like it damp and cool, so if it's possible, you can make it an undesirable habitat. I heard putting egg shells around your plants deters them, but I haven't tried it myself.

[@OwlMoovement]

​@@DG-iw3yw That'd be handy for a few bits of my home garden. The plot with the slug problem, however, has ~450 basil plants transplanted through landscape fabric in market garden rows. Copper collars might be a bit expensive for all of them. The landscape fabric helps keep moisture from the drip system in the sandy soil but is unfortunately hospitable for the slugs. @eddy kreker I've tried crushed eggshell in the past to little avail, I'm afraid. They just walked right over them. I've turned down the evening cycle of the drip system to let the soil sit a bit drier in the evening. Seems predator habitat is one of the better recourses for this plot.

[@lsb9073]

Why would you compare a tree which is supposed to grow to say 20m to a shrub which is supposed to grow to say 3m? If a tree reaches its 20m it is likely to be healthy. If a shrub remains at 1m it is not happy. So height IS an indicator within the same species. As are vibrant coloured green leaves (of whatever shade they are supposed to be) an indication of healthy plants. Leaf colour will indicate nutrient deficiencies in the soil or other environmental stresses- like too cold/wet.

[@johnboykin3128]

I'm entertained stimulated thankful and grateful. Very good presentation. Thank you ☺️

[@leahjackson3786]

I really enjoyed this, thank you so much for your presentation.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Glad you enjoyed it, Leah Jackson. Thanks for letting us know! - The AEA Team

[@careyjamesmajeski3203]

“Begs the question” does not mean “raises/suggests the question.” Begs the question refers to circular reasoning, specifically it means assuming the conclusion of an argument in one of the argument’s premises.

[@gary.richardson]

I really loved this presentation! This is the second time listening to it and influenced my approach to growing.

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi garyrich2000, we're so happy to hear that you enjoyed this webinar. Stay tuned :) - The AEA Team

[@anti-popfpv4638]

This is one of the best lectures about plant health and what I now believe to be best method in IPM. Are the non digital brix refractometers worth using until i get a digital? And what are the best methods for soil health for an indoor pepper grow with LED lights

[@Hollismeister88]

You can use the non digital ones to identify calcium deficiency and other things that the digital can't

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi Anti-PopFPV, you may find this information helpful: bionutrient.org/site/bionutrient-rich-food/brix Typically, the biggest difference is considered to be the ease of use. We hope this is helpful. - The AEA Team

[@dinebonte4014]

Very interesting! This got me thinking! Makes sense! Thanks for this presentation!

[@chriskimmer2869]

I absolutley love the amount of information in this video

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

We're glad that you enjoyed this video and found it informative! - The AEA Team

[@cbak1819]

I grow Cana and the ones that were doing poorly they didn't touch.. the lush ones did. Not to say that all insects don't eat healthy plants or not just my observation.

[@MegaKnowthetruth]

Does all this apply to the cabbage moth? or should I just buy row covers?

[@workhardplayhard801]

Dyna trap. ... place it away from the garden to draw the moths away. Then avoid any competing light . Also don't work in the garden at night even with a green light. During rainy spring season apply nematodes to the garden soil keep wet for at least 3 days Best of luck✌🙂

[@britishgass6947]

Buy row covers

[@crpth1]

Row covers will be my answer for a non chemical approach! Curiously I was able to observe a radically different behavior of caterpillar "attack" to my Portuguese cabbage. That happened in two very different scenarios. In fact in two very different countries altogether! ;-) #1 - In Portugal at almost 600m altitude place. In a piece of land that had been a farm but at least for the prior 4/5 years have been "abandoned" in terms of regular farming practices! So the cabbage was left to it's own (wild!!) Among a ridiculous amount or other herbs, grasses, weeds, etc. The best way to describe it, is that I couldn't SEE the cabbage among all else! With many grasses reaching about chest height! That's how flooded it was by let's call it "competition"! It had a (very) few dead branches. Several old/dried leaves. But was incredibly healthy and curiously no insect stress/attack! I was able to eat a lot of it! Simply delicious! 😋 Worth mention there was also, on the land, all sorts of insects, birds, mice, cats, dogs and even fox wondering around! #2 - In South Norway at almost sea level. Seeds from the same mother plant! In spite of my well trimmed garden. Garden beds with good soil and compost (both commercial and home made). Mulch, etc. First year I pretty, much lost all of them to insects pressure! No cabbage planted on the second year. Third year (this year) I eat a lot of cabbage from my production! BUT, Jeez! It looked like a bobbin lace!! From which I just eat what the insects left over for me! LOL 😂 Although perfectly edible, the taste was nothing to brag about and the looks where close to awful. If looking only to eat clean/undamaged cabbage leaves. I'm confident to say with such criteria I wouldn't be able to eat a single leaf... That's from almost 8/9 plants! Results vary some were lost. ALL of the kales and cabbages were severely attacked by insects, mostly caterpillar and slugs!

[@asmyas6350]

Excellent presentation....

[@SlikPapaRuff]

straight forward, concise thank you

[@jamesspry3294]

This is fantastic! Reinforces my experiences in the garden (and farm) with making healthy soils. Also, have heard this briefly from the legendary Dr Elaine Ingham and Aussie Dr Christine Jones. But they gave the soil microbe perspective. Keep up the great work!

[@AdvancingEcoAgriculture]

Hi James, thank you for the wonderful compliment! - The AEA Team

[@stevenjacobs2750]

Can anyone explain to me how the group of stored food pests aren't directly competing for food? That seems to totally undermine the thesis but it's just sort of glazed over.

[@stevenjacobs2750]

@sprock his whole point was that "insects don't compete with us for food" though. I loved the video, but it doesn't start with a strong hypothesis. Its ok to say that sometimes insects compete with us for food. There are like... a lot of them.

[@stevenjacobs2750]

@sprock in the beginning 10 minutes as he goes over things he says it repeatedly "we aren't competing with insects for food" ... "again, we are no competing with insects" But yeah I agree with you about most things. Just thought it was curious. When I recommend this video to people I just tell them to skip the first 10 minutes because it's really the stuff after that is most interesting and useful.

[@alicatdotcom]

This is some great info, thanks!!!

[@shananphilip]

This make so much sense , big thanks for this info