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Flax yield

When I talk to people about my experimental flax patch I often get the question of yield – how much flax do I get per square meter of harvest? I have never been able to answer the question since I haven’t documented the numbers. But this year I tried to estimate a flax yield.

It is a relevant and interesting question. But, as always, there are many parameters that need consideration and there is a lot more than just a figure. I will however give you some numbers and then challenge them.

Unprocessed weight

This year I planted two of my community garden allotment beds with flax. They are approximately 3 square meters in total. After I had harvested, dried, retted and dried again I had 900 grams of flax. I have nothing to compare it with, but of the ten harvests I have had it was at least one of the top three in harvested flax.

Newly water retted flax that, after drying, resulted in 900 grams.

Despite careful checks I managed to underret my flax this year too. More than usual, actually. While the fibers were very soft from the water retting, as well as long and fine, there was a lot of waste. The fibers were very strong, so the waste was in the amount of fibers (lots of plants where the fibers hadn’t separated) rather than in length.

Processed weight

After breaking, scutching and rough and fine hackling I had 72 grams of prepared flax. I arranged the flax in two stricks, one with the long first hand quality and one with the second hand hackle waste that I rehackled. In addition to that there was a lot of waste that ended up as mulching in the garden beds.

Broken, scutched and hackled flax. All in all I got 72 grams of spinnable fibers out of my 900 grams of dried and retted plants.

Parameters

So, I have listed some interesting parameters to challenge and break down these numbers. Some of which I can experiment with and improve and others that I just have to deal with. Some of which spell C-A-T-S.

Area, distribution and height

While I can measure the flax patch area there are lots of parameters that I can’t really influence. I aim at fine fibers, so I plant quite tightly, but I don’t measure the distance between the plants. Depending on my deweeding diligence there can be more or less weed between my flax plants.

Tighter planted seeds make more and finer plants. Both pictures are from previous years.

I buy the seed that is available that particular year. Sometimes it is a higher plant sort and sometimes a lower.

Height and fineness

Even if the seed has an estimated height, the individual plants can of course vary. The further the distance between the fibers, the more space the plant gets to grow, and the taller and rougher the plant will grow. This is especially clear in the edges of the flax patch where the plants have lots of space to grow. But height through roughness isn’t necessarily what I want. Where the plants have grown tighter the fibers will be finer, but also shorter. The tighter growing plants will also have less branching and a higher quality than the tall and branched rough plants. Finer fibers would also result in a lighter yield.

Last year’s flax was quite uneven in height.

Some years the plants are very different in height and I haven’t got the slightest clue to why. But perhaps it has something to do with the soil? I have read that flax likes to be planted on an even surface and so I try to make it as flat as I can by walking over the whole patch after sowing, pressing the soil even.

The weather

No matter how well I tend my flax patch, the weather always has the final say. Whether it is too wet, too dry or too windy, the weather will influence the quality of the flax. This year, for example, we had some very heavy rain in a couple of early August weeks. The flax laid flat and got too heavy to rise. Flax lying flat on the ground can result in mold or retting while it is still in the ground.

Retting

The retting, oh, the retting. How it eludes me. I have managed to underret most of my harvests so far. It seems like I need to overret it once to understand what perfect retting is supposed to look and feel like.

I did so many retting tests, but I still managed to underret it. Again.

When the flax is underretted there will be more fibers that still stick together in a band. These will make the hackling more exhausting for me and result in more tangles and broken fibers. A lesser quality, no doubt, and, in the end, more waste.

Cats

I’m not joking here. The more the neighbourhood cats that take naps in the flax field, the more bent the plants will get, resulting in the same disaster as heavy wind or rain. And no one has any say in the catdom other than the cat.

My flax patch has been terrorized by both cats and heavy rain. Screenshot from video.

This year Findus the neighbour’s cat trotted around in one of my flax patches as I tried to harvest it, resulting in tangled plants and lots of fuss. The main fuss was caused by heavy rain, though.

Waste or tow?

I have to admit I’m not very good at taking care of the hackle waste. I do try to unwaste the longer hackle remains and rehackle it into shorter bundles. But I am certain I could make more of an effort with the tufty tow and make a rougher yarn with it. This is actually a parameter where I can step up and turn some waste into unwaste.

Experimental

My flax patch has been experimental from the start back in 2014. My main aim is to learn, which I do every year, sometimes with varying degrees of pain. The more I learn the better quality my flax gets. There was a lot of waste this year. From the 900 grams I started with I ended up with 72 grams of prepared flax. That makes a yield of less than one per cent from the original dry weight. I have nothing to compare it with, but it sounds very low. Still it isn’t as simple as only numbers. I am very happy with the quality of those 72 grams.

Retting is and will always be a factor that heavily influences the yield and a constant adventure. Soil, fertilizing, weather and weeds are others. And cats.

I have written quite a lot of flax posts through the years. Use the search field to find them.

Happy spinning!

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
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Spring hackling

Last weekend I decided to process my 2022 flax harvest. Flax processing is always more laborious than I tend to remember it. Lucky me I had already broken and scutched it, back in September. Join me for some spring hackling!

As I was watching my 2023 flax babies sprout the other day, my thoughts went to my 2022 harvest. To save workload and storing space I had already broken and scutched the harvest from my two flax beds, so I just had to run it through the rough and fine hackles.

I broke and scutched the 2022 flax harvest in September. Scutched flax to the right.

Processing flax takes time and energy.

Processing flax takes time and energy.

Processing flax takes time and energy.

Spring hackling

Now I should remember for next time, shouldn’t I? Because there is no “just” in flax processing. There is always time, hard work and bloodshed involved. Still, having the flax already broken and scutched back in September was a sweet gift to myself now, eight months later. When I harvested the flax I also divided it into qualities – the edge plants (thick plants and rough fibers) in one bundle and the rest in separate bundnes according to fineness and length.

Rough hackling

I have two antique hackles, one rough and one fine. I let the flax go through both of them. As I rough hackled the flax I could feel and see the difference between the bundles. The finer the flax the shorter the fibers.

Spring hackling! As I rough hackle my flax the boon falls out from the fibers, leaving a smoother bundle.

Rough hackling is always quite straining – the boon (the pieces of cellulose that are made up the core of the plant and were broken in the first stage of processing) gets stuck between the fibers, and so does any underretted fibers. Therefore I need to work to get the flax through the spikes. But it did work and when I looked around me on the floor I was fascinated to see how much boon had fallen out of the fibers and down to the floor.

Fine hackling

When I had gone through all the bundles with the rough hackle, I was ready for the fine hackle. I made sure not to take too thick bundles, to avoid strain on both my muscles and the fibers. Most of the boon and underretted fibers were out by now, but the fine hackling further aligns the fibers and removes tangles and the little boon that may be left. Provided the flax has been properly retted, of course. I’ll get to that further down.

With the fine hackling I further align the fibers and remove tangles, underreted fibers and remaining boon.

In the fine hackling process I can really see and feel the quality of the flax. Since I had sorted it into qualities from the beginning, the bundles were very even in both length and quality. I was very grateful for having gone through the trouble of sorting the flax back in September.

When all the flax had gone through fine and rough hackles I was totally exhausted. I may have hackled for over two hours – flax and fingers. My hands looked like a mess, totally unfit for the photo shoot I had planned. Let’s take it again, with an addition: Processing flax takes time, energy and skin.

Hackle waste

All through the hackling stages I got lots of waste – for every bundle I had to remove waste from between the hackle spikes once or twice. I ran this waste through both hackles again, to remove the very shortest bits and free the usable tow for a rougher yarn and/or weft. It resulted in a sizable strick of my re-hackled hackle waste.

I re-hackle my hackle waste.

The waste from the hackle waste ended up as mulching under my red currant bushes.

Josefin’s vs Berta’s flax

Last summer I spent a lot of time on the balcony, spinning exquisite antique flax from the Austrian Berta’s flax project. Spinning that was a dream. Working with my own flax harvest now gave me a good idea of what high quality flax should look like – the antique flax was perfectly retted and was very smooth to spin. I realized that, even though my 2022 harvest was the best so far when it comes to length, quality and yield, it was slightly underretted. But I am very proud of the process and the result, and grateful for learning something new on m flax journey every year.

Voilá! My 2022 flax harvest all hackled and ready to spin. Slightly underretted, but still my best yield and quality yet.

My 2021 harvest, though, was a retting disaster – so much was wasted in the hackling due to underrating, I almost cried. But then I reminded myself that this is an experimental flax patch – I do it to learn. Even if I will never come near the quality of the antique flax, I know now that I need to be even more thorough in my retting process.

Lessons for the 2023 retting

Retting is truly vital for the quality of the fiber. Had the flax been properly retted I would have been able to remove more boon in the scutching step and less in the hackling step. It would have given a higher yield and lower waste. It would probably also have been a less straining hackling process for me. I’m certain it wouldn’t have resulted in less bloodshed. To add to my high expectations of my 2023 retting I am thinking about water retting it in a kiddy pool.

Flax chronology

I have grown an experimental flax patch every year since 2014. The first year I had no intention of processing the flax, it was just a bag of seeds I saw and bought. But as August came that year I decided to process it after all. The strick is very short and with the circumference of half a rat’s tail, but still, it’s my very first flax.

My experimental flax patch 2014–2022 (left to right). All stricks from 2021 and 2022 are not in the picture.

Some years were underretted, some years better, but every harvest different from the previous. The difference can be in colour, length, retting or other. It is truly interesting to see the result every year and the difference between the harvests. I do like to think that I have improved since I started.

Flax summer of 2023

Every year’s flax harvest i have placed in a paper bag. I have been practicing and procrastinating, waiting to gather enough courage and flax spinning skills to deserve to spin it. In the meantime I have spun commercially prepared flax. Last year, when I spun the Austrian flax I realized the difference and the amazing quality in the Austrian antique flax.

This summer my plan is to spin my own flax, for the very first time. Very exciting and a little scary. I will make separate yarns from each harvest (perhaps not the 2014 harvest) and perhaps weave something where the difference shows. I think the time has come now, I do deserve to spin my own flax harvest. Before I do I will rehackle it all and brush it with my flax brush. You can see a video where I rehackle and brush old flax here.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.