What is made from flax?
- Fibers for clothing, linen fabrics, book spines
- Linseed oil for food and machine industries
- Flaxseed for nutrition and animal feed
Grow flax in your own garden
If you plan to grow flax yourself in the garden, you need to think about what is important to you beforehand. If you want to harvest the fibers for fabrics, you need particularly tall varieties.
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For the harvest of flaxseeds as grain or for pressing for oil production, there are low types of flax in which the seeds have a particularly high oil content.
The right location for flax in the garden
Flax likes it a little warmer. Flax does not tolerate frost very well. Choose a somewhat sheltered location with well-drained, dry soil that should contain little nitrogen.
Only sow flax in areas where no other types of flax have grown for at least four years. If the time interval is shorter, fungi will form in the soil, which will cause the young plants to rot.
Flax is sown at the end of March and beginning of April. However, no more severe frost can be expected. Flax is a long-day plant, so it needs a lot of light. Flax grows particularly quickly in May and June.
Flax hardly needs any maintenance
Fertilize you only need flax varieties that you grow for fiber. A fertilizer based on phosphorus and potassium ensures particularly strong, long fibers. Oil flax is not fertilized.
Pour sparingly. Flax for fibers needs more moisture than flax for oil production.
When can flax or flax be harvested?
110 to 120 days after sowing flax is ready for harvest. It is then hand-pulled together with the roots. It is ideal if the plants are harvested a week before they are fully ripe.
Tips
It is not for nothing that the base of paintings is called canvas. The fabric is made from flax, i.e. linen. It can be woven very finely and is almost lint-free.