Dosage

Dosage depends on the age, weight and sensitivity of each individual. Some individuals may find they need less than the suggested dosage on the label. For an acute condition, herbs can be taken every 1-3 hours until symptoms subside. For general maintenance, herbs can be taken 2-4 times per day.

Adult: ¼- ½ tsp mixed in 1-2 ounces of water.

Child: 1 drop/5 pounds of body weight mixed in 1-2 ounces of water or sugar-free juice. As a general guideline for children we use Clark's Rule: Divide the child's weight (in pounds) by 150. This gives you the fraction of the adult dose appropriate to give a child. Please consult with your herbalist or practitioner before giving extracts to a child, as some are too strong for children.

Pets: Please consult with your vet. Usually 1 drop of a liquid extract or glycerite for every 5 lbs of body weight.

Dosage of extracts in comparison to capsules

Most capsules are double ott (00) which is equivalent to 300mg powdered plant material. Our tinctures range from ratios of plant material to menstruum (liquid used for extraction) of 1:2 - 1:8, although most are 1:4. 1=plant material and the second number is menstruum.

1/4 tsp dose is approximately 1mL of extract.

In a 1:2 ratio extract, there is 500mg per mL of extract.

1:3 = 330mg/mL

1:4 = 250mg/mL

1:5=200mg/mL

A 1oz bottle of extract holds appox. 30mL

Standarized Extracts

Our extracts are not standardized by particular constituents, but are made in the traditional fashion of extracting the whole plant part in menstruum. For example, while some companies will guarantee a particular level of one "active constituent" in their extracts, we believe that the whole plant has integrated constituents which work together. To us, the whole is more important than the parts.

It is common to have non-traditional side effects from standardized extracts, as they are not representative of the traditional means of making herbal medicine.  Standardized extracts are of great use in particular health challenges, but it should be noted that these extracts act very differently from traditional remedies because they have been altered chemically.

Powder dosage in mg

Our recommended dosages for powders are between 1/4- 1 tsp. It is not possible to give an exact weight amount per tsp of powder as the weight measurement depends on individual density of the particular powder and plant. Even the same plant, harvested at a different time of year will have a different density and be slightly different in weight per teaspoon. Our closest approximation for this conversion is 1/4 tsp = 500-1,000 mg