When making your own herbal preparations it is very important to maintain proper dosage in order to get the best results. On this page I include a chart showing 129 different herbs in alphabetical order, the parts used, dosages, and cautions to be aware of when taking those particular herbs.
I will also include how to make calculations to convert dry herb equivalents to liquid extract and vice versa. This will be very useful if liquid/dry herb material is not available to you and you can only find dosages for one or the other. The calculations come from Ian Breakspear who breaks them down into Algebraic equations (Who knew you WOULD end up using Algebra outside of High School? Don't worry though, they're pretty simple with the help of a calculator.)
So to start us off the dosage chart I was talking about:
Dosages For Herbs
Now the Calculations:
Before we begin it is noted that there is no 'True' dry herb equivalent of a liquid extract because there are too many factors that can change the chemical make-up of said extract, so there is no real equivalence.
To start out Breakspear uses X and Y to the dry herb and liquid extract.
X= the weight of the dry plant material
Y = the weight or volume of the extract.
Now an important thing to note is that different extracts have different ratios to determine how much liquid to how much solid.
For example a 1:1 to a 1:10 ratio is considered a liquid extract while a 2:1 is still liquid but a 4:1 is a semi-solid and from there a 25:1 is a completely solid extract.
Breakspear included a chart to help with each ratio:
| DER | Dry Herb Weight | Extract Weight or Volume | Extract Description |
| 1:1 | 1kg | 1L | liquid extract (also by convention 1:1’s are known as a fluid extracts) |
| 1:2 | 1kg | 2L | liquid extract |
| 1:3 | 1kg | 3L | liquid extract |
| 1:5 | 1kg | 5L | liquid extract; 1:5’s and below are often termed tinctures, although this is technically more determined by method of extraction than actual DER (i.e. technically tinctures are produced only through maceration) |
| 1:10 | 1kg | 10L | liquid extract; tincture |
| 2:1 | 2kg | 1L | concentrated liquid extract |
| 4:1 | 4kg | 1kg | semi-solid extract – hence the change to using weight as a measurement of extract quantity rather than volume |
| 8:1 | 8kg | 1kg | solid or semi-solid extract (depending upon consistency) |
| 25:1 | 25kg | 1kg | solid extract |
| 8-9:1 | 8-9kg | 1kg | solid or semi-solid extract; when extracts from different batches are combined to obtain specific outcomes (eg. standardisation or quantification of specific phytochemicals in the final product), sometimes a range is used as the extract ratio; this can make dosage calculations based on dry herb quantities difficult |
These are useful because you will need to know how to convert using the ratios as fractions such as 1:5 = 1/5, 4:1 = 4 and so on.
Now to move on to the actual conversion.
Dry Herbs to Extract: DIVIDE
Here's an example:
Say you have a 1:3 extract and need to turn it into a 1.5g dry herb equivalent.
This would mean that X= 1.5, Y=Unknown.
1:3 would turn into 1/3 and need to be divided by 1.5.
Y=1.5 ÷ 1/3
Y= 1.5 ÷ 0.3 This means that the 3 repeats in decimal form. It looks like this: 0.3333333... and goes on indefinitely.
So when you divide the two numbers you end up getting a very long number that must be round to
1.5 ÷ 1/3 = 4.5mL so Y= 4.5mL meaning this is the amount of liquid extract equivalent.
Extract to Dry Herbs: MULTIPLY
You must do the reverse now to get the dry herb equivalent of the extract.
We'll use another example that Breakspear uses on his page:
2mL of extract at a 1:3 ratio.
So the 2 =Y and our X= Unknown.
The equation would be: 2⋅1/3=X
2⋅0.3 = X
X= 0.66g
We ended up having to round off because it was 0.6.
Now is a good time to explain a little bit of conversion for the metric system. If you are working in milligrams, as many herbs are in mg format you should know that 1 gram = 1000mg. So to easily convert, multiply the grams by 1000 or move the decimal point 3 places. In this case it would be equivalent to 666mg. Kilograms, which is noted on the chart above is similar as 1kg = 1000g.
Keeping your units consistent is very important, if you are using grams, to mL, stick to grams and mL.
If the equation says grams to mL and you change the grams to milligrams, you must do the conversion before dividing into mL and vice versa, to insure your calculations are correct.
So now some questions for you to work on to help you get the hang of it: (Answers at the bottom)
1) Calculate the Dry herb equivalent of a 5.5mL extract at a 1:5 ratio.
2) Calculate the 1:4 ratio Liquid Extract equivalent of 3g of dry herb.
3) Calculate the 4:1 ratio liquid extract equivalent of 5000mg of dry herb. (Hint: Convert first!)
4) Calculate the Dry Herb equivalent of a 2L extract at a 1:3 ratio (Hint: Convert first!)
So hopefully you've got the hang of dosages and conversions, to better help you understand if mine wasn't every clear you can check out Ian Breakspear's site where I got the calculation information from: Ian Breakspear: Dosage Calculations
Being able to calculate different dosages makes you one step closer to being able to administer your own dosage. Always remember to be safe about it and get your dosages from a reliable source.
Just make sure you're making the proper type of preparation as many herbs are not meant to be used internally and some can cause many problems if consumed, so make sure you know what you're looking at!
Stay healthy and safe!
~Lindsey Shemwell (The Budding Botanist)
Now for the answers to the questions above:
To break them down:
1) Calculate the Dry herb equivalent of a 5.5mL extract at a 1:5 ratio.
X=Unknown, Y=5.5, Ratio=1/5
1/5= 0.2
X=5.5 ⋅ 0.2 = 1.1g
2) Calculate the 1:4 ratio Liquid Extract equivalent of 3g of dry herb.
X=3g, Y=Unknown, Ratio=1/4
1/4=0.25
Y=3 ÷ 0.25 = 12mL
3) Calculate the 4:1 ratio liquid extract equivalent of 5000mg of dry herb.
The big hint here was to convert, so 5000mg = 5g if you leave it as it is would convert to microliters. A microliter is the equivalent of 0.001 milliliters. So 1000 microliters = 1mL
X= 5, Y=Unknown, Ratio= 4
Y= 5 ÷ 4 = 1.25mL
4) Calculate the Dry Herb equivalent of a 2L extract at a 1:3 ratio.
Another convert first, so 2L= 0.002mL if left like so it would have to convert to kilograms, 1kg= 1000 g.
X=Unknown, Y=0.002, Ratio = 1/3
1/3= 0.3
X=0.002 ⋅ 0.3333333 = 6.66g (Rounded)
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