Growing flax

[gfugal]

Anyone grow their own flax before? I want to take a stab at it this upcoming summer. I'm curious if you have to buy specialty seeds or if you can just get some edible ones from the grocery store and plant them.

[DC]

I tried it once. I got seed from the health food store and my plants only got about a foot or so tall. I think there are seed producing varieties and fibre producing varieties.

[Hawkdancer]

I would recommend a seed store, farm supply store, etc.  Research your varieties, as well.
Hawkdancer

[willie]

there is a variety just for fiber, and for best strength, there is a best time to harvest

marlyin seed sold here     

Code: [Select]

http://www.flaxforsale.com/html/the_store.html

[High-Desert]

I have tried the seed from a health food store and it worked great. You need to plant it densely so it grows tall. Harvest when flowers are in bloom. Mine grew 2-3 feet tall. It worked great for making strings.

From what I have read the only difference is time of harves between seed variety and fiber. But everything in agriculture is bred to maximize a crop so I'm sure there are different varieties, but both will work for either process since you aren't looking for a cash crop.

[gfugal]

Well  High Desert i think you convinced me to try it. I figure I don't have much to loose since the health food store one's aren't that expensive. If It doesn't work like it didn't with DC, then I'll get the stuff willie suggested. Although I went to that site and couldn't find any way to buy them.

[willie]

email or call. let us know what you learn if you chat them up.
Hans & Sara von Tresckow  in Fond du Lac (the link at the bottom of the page) have good service. as I recall, the planting works best if the seeds aren't spread out too much. don't know if the fiber variety seed makes a better fiber, just maybe taller plants?

[DC]

I would imagine that what you get at a health food store is whatever they can get cheap. They aren't concerned with the length of fiber so one day you might get tall plants and the next short ones. The problem is that it takes a year to find out. I would seek out the tall varieties even if it cost 3 or 4 times as much just to make sure.

[High-Desert]

I've tried multiple times and by planting them dense, they will shoot for the sun and I've never had them too short to make fiber, and it's extremely strong. Maybe even try partial shade. You can try several times during the year as it only takes about 2 months from planting to bloom. You can also let some go to seed, and select only the tallest plants to pull seeds from and plant those if you want to see if you can get taller plants.

[gfugal]

So the flaxforsale site lists their price of flax seed as "Flax seed, Marilyn variety, fiber flax: $10 per pound, $6 half pound, $3.50 quarter pound." Then say later "shipping is extra and typically adds 15 to 30 percent to the total amount. Small items like stricks, tow and seed are shipped via USPS Priority or First Class." To order you just email them at BroJoh@Yahoo.com or call 570-425-2548.

I'm guessing a quarter pound is plenty, but priority or first class mail probably won't be less than a couple of dollars so it might be better to get a half pound or full pound to make it worth the shipping. So I'm guessing that I could get some from them for $9-$14? Vs $2-$3 from a store. It's definitely more expensive but maybe I'll do both and do a side by side comparison.

[gfugal]

I wish I could grow hemp, but dumb government mistakes it for ol Mary Jane. Other fiber options are Jute, Sisal, Nettle, Yucca, ect. Does anybody grow any of these for the purpose of harvesting fiber?

Flax is probably best for string because of how stiff it is, but it may be too stiff for a backing if used too much, and some of these other options might be better.

[Hawkdancer]

There are a number of legal hemp producers that would probably have fiber available to sell, or advise you on growing your own.  Sent pm.
Hawkdancer

[gfugal]

Yeah, I would have to buy hemp. You can only grow hemp commercially but only after jumping through regulations and inspections. Even then there's no guarantee, and it depends a lot on the state. This is because it's like a close cousin to marijuana or something, and the government thinks you might claim you're growing hemp when you're actually growing weed, or maybe at least hiding it in with your hemp.

It looks like Jute and Sisal are tropical plants. So I don't think it's an option to grow them here either unless I made a greenhouse or something. Looks like flax, nettle, and yucca are my only growing options.

[willie]

has anyone tried to harvest nettle during the bloom, like with flax?

[gfugal]

So if you do a google search for the stiffness (MOE) of nettle you get a value of 87 GPa which is higher than any value I've seen for flax! Maybe nettle could be a contender against flax for a natural bow string material? I also see a topic on the cooking form that you can eat it, and is tasty? Maybe there's more merit to growing nettle than originally thought.