I've been using alfalfa for years and reading this forum for years and I've never heard of triacontanol. I have read on occasion that there was a growth stimulator in alfalfa, but I would never use a material simply for that reason. The reason I use alfalfa (or corn meal, or corn gluten meal, or wheat flour, or coffee grounds, or soybean meal, or cottonseed meal) is that it feeds protein to the soil microbes. If you want to feed protein to your soil microbes indoors, I dilute milk in water and water with that. If you water a pure peat mix with milky water for three weeks, the soil will completely change as the soil fungi take off. The soil will even smell different (after the slightly sour milk smell dissipates). It will smell incredibly fresh and clean. I tried dusting the soil with coffee grounds to get the protein from them, but the milk worked 1000% better.

The 1/3 rule won't work with the harvest of camellia leaves for tea. You'll only be using the uppermost two or three leaves (from each branch) at any given time. Since the pinching off of these leaves will stimulate new growth, you'll be able to harvest another flush of growth in a few weeks (during the active growing season). I have NO idea how much (in volume or weight) of a harvest you'd need to make a single cup of tea. By the time the leaves are dried and processed, you aren't left with what looks like much from that particular harvest. I also don't remember how many times per season the leaves can be harvested. (I've only visited the tea plantation twice.) Much of that would depend upon the time of year, general climate, vigor of the plant, and the quality of the growing conditions. The older leaves would be extremely bitter and vile tasting as tea. Besides, those leaves are the energy generators for your plant. Without a lush complement of mature green leaves, your Camellia wouldn't be able to continue on to produce new growth over and over again. Also, if you remove the leaves or branch sections from older parts of the plant, you'll reduce the amount of energy that will be devoted solely to the production of new leaves at the tips of the branches.

Watch the fluoride -("A 2005 study conducted by Dr. Michael Whyte from Washington University raised concerns about the high fluoride content in instant iced tea") -- it occurs naturally. Perhaps DONT use fluoridated water/tooth stuff while drinking it. I use organic. Two cups a day. NO NATURAL flavors or sweeteners added. Just plain old tea. Cannot figure out how to do the loose leaf just yet. I am learning. Tea can cause indigestion to those with a sensitive stomach. It also reduces absorption of non-heme iron, causing problems to those prone to iron deficiency anaemia. some info at www amazing-green-tea.com/drinking-too-much-green-tea.html All in moderation. Personally, I like my filtered water.

I finished the cozy in the wee hours last night watching the Olympics. I had one section that just would not cooperate, after doing it just fine on the other half too, so I finally gave up and fudged it. I had to make it a tad shorter to fit my 2 cup teapot, so I just used hdc in the last 2 rows instead of dcs. I also had to make the bottom a little tighter by adding some additional decreases. It is cute and flowery and I wish there were someone on my Christmas list who would enjoy this bit of feminine tea whimsey. Sooooooo, I guess I will just have to use it myself! And I did just that this morning. I worked surprisingly well.