# Growing Flax for Fiber?



## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Anyone grow flax for fiber? I'm considering this as a dual purpose plant on my farm. Harvested immature it is a good sheep feed, with similar nutritional profile to timothy/alfalfa hay, harvested mature it is a fine fiber.

The seed sources I've found sell flax as a wildflower. There are a couple varieties native to the US. I don't know if just any variety will do or if a specific one is needed for fiber?


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## AprilM (Jul 23, 2008)

There is a specific fiber flax. I grew some from Bountiful Gardens. I did not turn it in to fiber but was growing to get more seed. I can't comment on fiber quality.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

You DO need a special seed for linen flax.
The others are too branchy.
Marilyn is a readily available one..Flax seed, Marilyn variety, fiber flax: $9 per pound, $5 half pound, $3 quarter pound.
http://flaxforsale.com/html/the_store.html

And there are a lot of great sites on growing and harvesting your own.
It is on my list.
I do love knitting with flax/linen.
A little rough at first, but after a few gentle washings?
Wow!


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

Let me know how the sheep do on flax. And how growing flax goes. I am interested in growing some but have never spun it. What it's like?


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Any idea if the fiber variety is as good a feed as the wildflower variety?

My cousin took a flax spinning course. She found it challenging but interesting, bought more flax after the course.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Growing flax for fiber is VERY labor intensive, at least the processing of it is. Keep us posted about your adventures in Flax to Linen.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I think if I buy a pound of seed more will go to livestock feed than fiber processing. I only dabble in fiber arts. (I learn a little of everything I can. )


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I am thinking of investing in hackles though, might be interesting to play with long wool on those.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I might be better off making a hackle. The old ones available are all rusty or bent. The new ones are wool hackles with just a single or double row for blending or making roving rather than the deeper sets designed for more major combing.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

... One month makerspace membership a lot cheaper than a drill press.


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

But a drill press will last for years and years. It is one of the most used tools around here.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

The makerspace is also full of potential allies to the creative process. It is a long drive, I'd get my own equipment if I used it a lot.


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

I grew a row of flax in the garden one year, just for fun. The growing was the easiest part of the procedure. The processing takes a long time but wasn't all that difficult, and eventually I did get fiber and spun it. Spinning it is a challenge if you haven't done it before---take a class if you can. It's totally fun!


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I felt more than I spin, but I'm just playing with long fiber processing right now. Retting and breaking don't translate to wool, but heckling might.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Would you harvest the flax yourself? A scythe? You need special equipment to harvest flax so if your neighbors don&#8217;t grow it, you&#8217;ll have a devil of a time finding someone to do so.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

I have a scythe, some sources say to pull it up by the roots for longer fiber.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

One modern flax company suggests using normal large balers. They buy in that condition.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

We make a small amount of hay by hand. (BCS Sickle Bar mower, wooden rakes, pitchfork...) Flax sounds a bit easier since the dew retting process actually requires it get rained on, although I'm guessing you need sunny days at the end to dry it out before you pick it up.


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## SvenskaFlicka (Nov 2, 2011)

You pretty much need to pull up flax. My DH grew some last summer. The fibers are too tough to really cut, and go all the way into the root. 
But flax is easy to pull up.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

This old text describes pulling by machine or scything by hand. The author prefers the scythe, the pulling machines were not very advanced yet.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4z...ythe&pg=PA128#v=onepage&q=flax scythe&f=false


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## Shoestringer (Oct 18, 2013)

Very interested in this. I will have to find a course if I can. I second the question about feeding the fibre flax. Is it still good nutritionally? I can see myself using it for both feed and fibre.


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## DragonFlyFarm (Oct 12, 2012)

Interesting thread!


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

In addition to Marilyn, Regina has also been suggested as a fiber variety.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

I found this article that is kind of interesting. 

http://joybileefarm.com/harvest-linen-flax/

It talks about harvesting the flax before the seed is fully ripe so that the linen created is of better quality...but that the seeds will still ripen after you've pulled the flax out of the ground. 

snip: 
"The seed will mature while the plants dry out. Once the seed is mature it can be rippled from the plants to feed to livestock or to save for planting in the following year."


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