The Magical BRIX Number That Stops Pests - An Exciting Conversation with Dr. Tom Dykstra

In this episode, host Jennie Love is joined by Dr. Tom Dykstra, an entomologist with over 25 years of experience in academic and field research. Predominantly, he has studied insect olfaction (how insects smell) from the standpoint of bioelectromagnetics and has proven a new theory based on the fusion of biophysics and neurophysiology.  Dr. Dykstra has long been involved in the field of agriculture and pest control.  He brings a unique perspective to the table that flies in the face of conventional agriculture's penchant for liberally applying pesticides.  Turns out pesticides kill far more than the pests -- but we regenerative farmers already knew that, right?  Still, it's great to hear a lauded scientist explain why pesticides are the undoing of healthy plants.  

In this episode, we go into more detail about BRIX and how this easy measurement can be so meaningful to pest management.  Through all his years of research with myriad crops and pests, Dr. Dykstra has found a magical BRIX number where, once that threshold has been reached, pests will not be a problem anymore!  Listen in to learn what that number is!

In this episode, a few links are mention.  Here they are for easy reference: 

- Previous interview with Dr. Dykstra on the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast wtih John Kempf

- The refactometer model Jennie uses at her farm to take BRIX readings. 

- The Wikipedia article on bioelectromagnetics for those who are curious to have a brief intro to the idea. 

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT THE EDITING OF THIS EPISODE: 

We're so grateful to Dr. Dykstra for sharing all his nerdy knowledge.  That being said, he did get super nerdy for a bit early on in this interview.  Like super duper nerdy!  We thought we'd loose a lot of you in the weeds if we started the episode with that.  So you'll be jumping into the middle of the interview when you start listening to this episode.  Keep listening alllll the way to the end to hear a lot of detail about how Dr. Dykstra has determined insects "smell".  

Dr. Dykstra currently works as a consultant for Advancing Eco Ag if you'd like to pick his brain more.  

This show is brought to you by the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network (RFFN).  Your membership in RFFN will go to support the making of more podcasts here on No-Till Flowers. Join RFFN today to read dozens of great articles on regenerative practices as they specifically relate to flower farming.   On RFFN, you'll find a more information about regenerative practices for pest control and a nerdy community to talk more about BRIX.  

 

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