Linseed

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Linseed

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Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 9:11 am Post subject: Linseed
Anybody know, offhand, whether you can easily grow your own linseed...does it also have nice flowers or am I mixing it up with another flower (linum?). Would the seeds from the healthfood shop grow? I don't plan to do it..yet...but thought chances are someone here would have tried it!

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 9:57 am Post subject:

I have sprouted linseed, there is no reason the plants shouldn't mature. Have read somewhere that with flax (same plant) you can't get both seed and fibre from the same crop, I assume the ripening/readiness is perhaps at a different stage. Something to investigate further if you want both.
The seeds are very glutenous when wet, and the best method to sprout linseed (like cress) is to sprinkle them on an unglased terracotta dish, like the plant pot thingies. Soak the terracotta, and then wet the seeds a couple times a day with a spray bottle. Grown for small salad green like cress, cutting above the root.

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 10:30 am Post subject:

no reason why the health food seeds shoouldn't grow.
The difference between varieties used for flax and those for seed production is that the seed varieties stems tend to branch which gives more flower heads and thus more seeds. The flax varieties
tend to have a single long stem which gives longer unbroken fibres
and better linen. The flax crop is sown at a higher seed density so the plants are more crowded and grow up straight with no room to branch.

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 10:43 am Post subject:
Thanks Joey for throwing light on that one. I suppose in a self sufficiency situation it might be a good idea to go for the flax variety to get fibre and still be able to get some seeds. But that probably means having to get seed from a seed merchant rather than healthfood shop, as those from the healthfood shop are bound to be the variety grown for the seed.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 12:25 pm Post subject:
Can I ask what you want linseed for? Or are you an artist, and just hadn't told us?

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 12:28 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Or are you an artist, and just hadn't told us?

Who me? Can't you tell by my decorous writing style and general air of culture and accomplishment?

Well, I was kind of thinking, I have sown some blue linum, and have grown red in the past. Both are beautiful flowers. They look very similar to the linseed we bought from the health food shop and I did wonder if you couldn't kill several birds with one stone, sowing the food seed, enjoying the display, and then harvesting more seed...

I think it'll be a while before I make my own linen though

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 1:50 pm Post subject:
Linseed's also available in most asian grocers it's called Alsi. It's used in quite a few things.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 2:14 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

It's used in quite a few things.

Such as?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 2:17 pm Post subject:
I knew you'd ask me that. Mostly medicinal or at least partly medicinal products and something called a pinni which is sort of like a small boulder made using sugar syrup, toasted flour, and toasted linseed flour. Can't stand the taste myself.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 05 9:16 pm Post subject:
Seeing a field of flowering flax is a great site. Is it not used as a fodder crop? There's so many uses we should write a book called 'The flax of life'.

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 05 9:07 am Post subject:
I don't think there is hardly any flax grown in the British Isles now so you are only likely to come across linseed varieties at seed merchants. You would still get fibre from them and you could sow it densely.

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