Hello, Im wondering if anyone here has experience making green tea with Japanese Knotweed?
I've been using Regalia regularly for a couple of years as a recolonizer after the use of Oxidate. It is fairly expensive and has just gone up another 5.00 a gallon. The main ingredient in Regalia is Japanese Knotweed and I have an unlimited supply of this very annoying plant so I thought I would give making tea from it a try. I have also, large supplies of Horsetail and Nettle and have made green tea successfully from these.
My experience, so far, is that the Horse tail and Nettle ferment and break down rapidly to almost no solids, with no forced air, and in 3-4 days are at a ph below 3.5. When Knotweed is added to the mix however, by volume 25% nettle, 25% horsetail, 50% knotweed, 25 gallons water, the horsetail and nettle fermented as expected but still at day10 the knotweed only has changed color, leaves are still intact.
Im wondering if I need to cut up the plant to a finer degree or maybe introduce something to kickstart the breakdown of the plant. As someone who has used many different things to poison Knotweed over the years I do know that there is no problem with absorption into the plant.