Harvesting Linen Flax
Linen, a specially selected variety of the flax plant, grown for its long, unbranched stocks, is harvested 100 days after planting, before the seeds are fully ripe.ย The plants, which are grown for their long, luxurious bast fiber, are pulled up by the roots in order to maximize the length of the fiber.
Itโs very important when harvesting flax for linen fiber to harvest at the right time.ย You donโt want to leave it in the field too long.ย You donโt want to wait until the seeds are completely ripe.ย This toughens the linen fiber in the stems and you will not get soft, fine linen fibers that are also strong.ย If the plants dry out in the field and turn brown, the fiber becomes brittle and there is a greater percentage of waste when the plants are processed for fiber.
How to know if your linen is ready to harvest
When linen flax is ready for harvesting, flowering has stopped.ย One or two flowers may be visible in the field but predominantly each stalk has only seed bolls visible. The plants are 2/3rds yellow and 1/3rd still green.ย The seed has formed in the seed bolls but it is still white or pale brown and immature, inside the boll.ย This is the optimal time for harvest.ย If the field was planted in a single day, the window of optimal harvest may be only a day or two.ย So be prepared to put aside other activities to get the harvest in efficiently.
How to harvest linen
Harvest on a dry day.ย If itโs raining, wait until the plants are dry before harvesting.ย Never harvest in the rain.ย You donโt want to walk on the wet soil, and compact the earth.ย The wet plants will heat up and the core of your bundles will rot and mold instead of continuing to mature in the shook as they should.
Harvest by pulling up handfuls of linen stalks by the roots.ย They come up easily if the ground is not compacted.ย Once the plants are pulled up, they are bundled into shooks that are the breadth of a hand and tied securely.ย The stalks themselves can be used to tie the bundle.ย I put two of the moister, yellow stalks together and use them to tie the stocks in bundles or shooks.ย The shooks are then stood upright in the field or under shelter if rain is expected.ย This allows the seed bolls to continue to mature while the plants turn yellow, and finish drying out.ย By standing them up, instead of piling them on top of each other, they will dry evenly, without molding.
The seed will mature while the plants dry out. ย 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.ย Plan to ripple the plants before storing them for the winter.ย Keep varmints out of your seeds as you may want to save your seed to plant forย the following year โ saving you money and ensuring the you have an eternal supply of linen flax.
More about rippling linen flax in September, once the seeds of this yearโs harvest are mature.ย Would you like a video of the rippling process and the equipment and set up that I use?
More resources:
This is my very favorite book about growing, harvesting, and processing linen.ย It has lots of history, culture, and hands on, practical advice to help you master this lost art.
Linen from flax seed to woven cloth
More About Linen
How to Finish Linen Yarn
Linen the Endangered Natural Fiber
Raquel says
Hello
I am wanting to plant linen flax in Central America. Pretty hot & dry about 2/3rd of the year do you think I could get two harvests out? Also I know you said specialty seed? But is there another specific name it goes by? This is wonderful by the way. Iโm looking to learn & do the whole process from seed to linen as natural as possible. Any book or video references that you could recommend would be greatly appreciated.
Maribeth O'Donnell says
Hi – I’m not sure if you will get this or not – I am asking in January 2020! and this was posted awhile ago.
I just have one question really – (at this point!) – the flax you grow to harvest linen, is it simply blue flax flower? sold in packets? thanks.
Joybilee Farm says
Hi, Maribeth, flax that is grown for fibre is a specialty flax. It does have a blue flower. There are several varieties of flax. The blue flowered flax is an ornamental flower. There is also oil seed flax that is a short flax grown specifically for it’s oil rich seed. Fiber flax is a tall flax, usually 4 feet tall that produces long linen fibers in its stem. If you want to grow the fiber flax (aka. linen) you need seed for fiber flax or linen flax. The other two kinds of flax seed won’t produce the long smooth fibers.
Maribeth O'Donnell says
Thank you so much! I fear I got the wrong flax but I have grown it and am trying to harvest what I can. It’s my first experience; next year I will specifically look for linen flax – for that is what I want. Thank you.
maribeth
Steven says
Here is a video how they harvest flax in Europe (France):
maybe this can help you?
Athena Brown says
I appreciate the info you have supplied and would also like your video on the rippling process.
Thanks again,
Athena
Lauri Livingston says
Thanks for all the great information you share. I’m in the process of trying to figure out what is going to be the best animals and crops to grow here on my farm in South Carolina. I’m right between Columbia and Aiken and about 2 1/2 hours from the coast or mountains.
I would love to get one of your video’s on the rippling process.
Thanks again.
Lauri