Direct Seeding: Facts on Flax - D'Arcy Hilgartner, Camrose, Alberta

Author: Sandra Taillieu

Date Created: October 20, 2008

Last Reviewed: October 20, 2008


	D’Arcy Hilgartner grows flax at Camrose

D’Arcy Hilgartner farms near Camrose, Alberta and includes flax as a part of his sustainable cropping system. In the heart of canola country, flax is not commonly grown but D’Arcy has found a niche on his farm for the blue-flowered oilseed.

“We like to try new things,” says D’Arcy, “And flax has worked out well for us.”

The families of D’Arcy, his brother Pat and their father Ralph work together to farm 6000 acres in the parkland area of central Alberta.

“We grow a few different crops to extend our rotation beyond wheat-canola-snow,” says D’Arcy who also grows barley, peas, and oats. The Hilgartner family has been direct seeding their land since 1996. They’ve learned from experience that careful management is the key to successfully growing flax in a direct-seeded system.

“We have a short season here which is a challenge for flax,” D’Arcy explains. “Weed control and residue management are also important.”

D’Arcy first grew flax in 2000. “I did as much research as I could,” he says. “Most of the information came from southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan where flax is traditionally grown. I learned that flax is not a competitive crop so we selected a clean field and did a pre-seed burn-off. That first year, we sprayed our wild oats and broadleaves together. The wild oats came up late and then we had a weed problem.”

“We learned that the number one reason to control weeds in flax is for harvest management,” says D’Arcy. “We don’t want green weeds interfering with the even maturity of the crop. We also want to reduce yield losses resulting from competition.”

“We have learned to watch the field closely,” D’Arcy explains. “We usually end up doing a split application to get control of both our grassy and broadleaf weeds. We limit our acres to what we can manage well.”


	The Hilgartners direct seed all of their crops

To give flax the advantage, the Hilgartners pay careful attention to detail at seeding. “We have two air drills on our farm,” D’Arcy explains. “One has 9 inch spacing and one has 12 inch spacing. We seed flax on 9 inch spacing because it doesn’t canopy the way peas will. The yield losses from weed competition are less dramatic in flax than what we might see in field peas but they are still significant.”

“We seed at ¾ to 1 bushel/acre depending on seeding conditions, openers, and germination of our seed,” D’Arcy explains. “The best advice I got about seeding flax was to treat it like malt barley for seeding depth and fertilizer rate. We seed flax 1/2 -3/4 inch deep and we fertilize it the same as we do for malt barley. Flax doesn’t yield the way argentine canola does and it doesn’t respond to higher rates of fertilizer. We see yields at around 30-35 bushels/acre which is more comparable to what we’d get with polish canola.”

D’Arcy has found flax to be more drought tolerant than canola. “In 2002, we had 4 inches of rain,” he explained. “Our flax still yielded 18 bushels/acre whereas our canola ran about half that.”

Flax is a long-season crop but new management tools have helped farmers like D’Arcy to grow it in non-traditional areas. “In earlier years, farmers didn’t have pre-harvest glyphosate to hasten maturity of the crop,” says D’Arcy, “And they didn’t have the tools to chop and spread the straw.”


	Flax straw is managed at the combine

“The improvement in equipment, especially choppers has made direct seeding into flax stubble a non-issue,” says Darcy. “We run New Holland 9070 combines with factory choppers that handle the flax straw just fine. If it’s chopped well and spread well, we don’t have any trouble seeding into it the next year.

“Like peas, when the straw starts to get tough, we shut down and wait until the sun comes out the next day. Wet conditions when seeding into flax straw are no different for us than with wheat or peas. Flax is a low-residue crop. It’s very strong straw, but there isn’t a lot there by the time we’re done. It’s just a matter of proper management.”

“There are two ways to harvest flax,” D’Arcy explains. “You can spray with pre-harvest glyphosate to hasten maturity and straight-cut the crop when it is dead ripe. Or, you can swath with a sharp sickle and then combine the crop when it dries down. Green flax straw is tough to cut and for us, using pre-harvest works best.

“Natural dry-down in our area is not usually a good option. Flax takes a quite a bit of frost and matures very late in the season which means the crop may be under snow.”


	Direct seeding into flax straw is not a problem

“We were assured that flax winters well,” says D’Arcy, “But that was not what we found. One year it snowed in October and stayed. We had flax out in the field both swathed and standing. What we had swathed fared better than what we had standing but both suffered significant grade loss. We don’t want go through that again.

“Occasionally a buyer does not want to have the crop sprayed with pre-harvest. However, we need to see a good premium to warrant the extra management.”

D’Arcy enjoys growing flax and has fun with the challenge of marketing.

“Flax is a niche crop and sometimes price discovery is a bit tricky,” D’Arcy admits. “It takes some investigation to figure it out. Flax often trades at a premium compared with canola but it yields a little less. We’ve sold flax to companies making cereal, pet food and pharmaceuticals. Line companies will buy it but they usually offer the lowest price. Flax usually nets similar to our cereal crops, but less than canola. Having something different in the rotation is worth something too.”

“Flax is a high-management crop” says D’Arcy, “But it’s a good fit in our cropping system.”

Information on growing flax can be found on the Flax Council of Canada website.