When I've looked at what is in most plant teas, they are bacterial, or they don't have much microbial life at all. Maybe a limited set of microbes on the leaf surfaces because of pesticide drift or dust?
Plant teas can have direct, immediate impacts on AACT, IF the tea has really toxic materials in it (low pH, high concentration of phenols, tannins, terpenes, organic acids, toxic plant materials.
Consider that some plants make some very toxic compounds (think of deadly nightshade, hemlock, poison ivy). what affect might those compounds have if extracted from a plant?
So, testing might be a good idea so you know what effect occurs.
Testing for mineral content in plants, especially if a plant is thoguth to be elevated in certain nutrients. Alan Capular did a study on lots of the different plants and the amino acids, and maybe some on minerals, about 5 years ago. Maybe Alan would be a good person to ask about some of this information. I understand that Will Newman (newman_at_osalt.com, I think) is working on the book to be published from this. Check with Oregon Tilth about this too.
Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com
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Received on Sat Jan 10 2004 - 11:18:31 EST