Flax

Any of you guys plant flax any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Flax was grown here on the Calif. central coast during the WW2 years. I barely remember some flax being grown here in the '50's. Farmers made a lot of money growing flax back then. They bought a lot of new tractors. One old farmer I knew made a million dollars back then.

Flax was grown on the hills as a dryland crop. Ground was plowed in the winter and worked up into a fine dust mulch. Flax was planted in May with a drill. It only grew about 24" tall and bloomed with blue flowers. It was harvested with AC AllCrop combines with a special flax roller. The farmer I mentioned farmed about 1000 acres and had 6 combines pulled by 6 AC Model M's.

In this area we have dry cycles and wet cycles. Due to all the money being made with flax, a lot of hill land was worked up to plant and the wet years came and a lot of topsoil was washed into the ocean. By that time the bottom fell out of the market and flax was no longer planted.

Tom

Most of the flax (for seed) grown in North America is grown in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I have grown flax a few times. It is a small seed so needs to be seeded shallow into MOIST SEED BED. We used to seed 40 lb/acre. It does respond to fertilizer but not as well as many other crops. It also does not compete well with weeds, but excellent herbicides are available. Once established it can withstand dry conditions. Many consider flax to be a low input crop and therefore seed it on marginal land. There is nothing much nicer to look at than a field of flax in full bloom (blue). Flax has to be REALLY ripe before it is combined (frost or dessicant helps). We always straight cut ours in October. Once ready it combines well with a good combine: you don't want to have any leaks, or if you do keep a roll of duct tape and a tube of caulking handy. DO NOT PLUG THE CYLINDER OR ROTOR. If the sun isn't shining go home. The straw is hard to dispose of but there is a market for it in Manitoba (if weed free). Typical yields are 18 to 25 bu/acre. 30 is quite possible, but so is 10. Price for a 56 lb. bushel was mostly $11 to $12 CDN last year. Organic flax was worth more than twice that. Flax is a thin market which can fluctuate wildly. There is no futures market any more. I always took what I could get for mine. Well established farmers keep a bin full as a "lottery ticket".