The fibers in the stem of the flax plant form a thin layer between the woody core and the outer skin or epidermis that runs all the way from the roots to the tips. They may straighten up again, or at least partially recover. If that happens, use the tines of a garden fork. The only common, serious crisis in growing flax is that the tender stalks sometimes get knocked flat by hail or heavy rainstorms. Rabbits and rodents sometimes nibble flax, but it has few insect or disease problems. Pull out any weeds that appear before the seedlings have grown a few inches tall after the seeds sprout, the flax plants will crowd out any weeds. Seedling flax plants quickly develop a good root system and need watering only if the weather is unusually warm, dry or windy. Water gently if the soil starts to dry out before germination, which takes about 10 days. Then use a rake to draw the seeds down into the soil, covering them 1/4- to 1/2-inch-deep. Dust the small brown seeds with flour before sowing so that you can scatter them evenly across the surface of the plot. Measure your planned flax plot to determine its area, and plan to sow about one tablespoon of flax seeds per 10 square feet. Rake the surface of the soil to prepare a smooth, fine-textured seedbed. This can be as early as January or as late as May, depending on where you live. Flax grows best in cool weather, so sow it outdoors as soon as you can work the soil in spring, at the same time that you would sow peas, lettuce or other cool-weather crops. #Silverstack flax plant fullChoose a site in full sun, with deep, fertile, well-drained soil, and prepare it as you would for growing vegetables or flowers. Grow and Harvest Flaxįlax tolerates a range of soils and climates and can be grown in almost any part of the United States. #Silverstack flax plant PatchFrom a flax patch about 4 feet square, you can harvest enough fiber to make a basket and enough seeds for a batch of bread or crackers. On a backyard scale, it isn’t necessary to specialize. Farmers specialize in one product or the other, choose cultivars accordingly, and take slightly different approaches to growing and harvesting their crops. The stems branch near the top to bear blue or white round, 1/2-inch-wide flowers with five petals.ĭifferent cultivars of flax have been selected for maximum yield and quality of either fiber or oil. Each individual plant makes one or more slender, erect stems about 3 feet tall, scattered with narrow, pale green leaves about 1 inch long. The species of flax grown for fiber and seed production is an annual called Linum usitatissimum that’s Latin for “the most useful kind of flax.” Flax is almost always grown like a grain crop, in plots of many plants crowded close together. Then seedpods swell to the size of a pea and turn from green to gold as the seeds inside ripen, and the plants dry out and die. But each plant makes dozens of flowers for three to four weeks, and a plot of flax in bloom looks like a reflection of the sky. The life of a flax flower is transitory: a flower lasts less than one day.
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