Editing Flax (section)

=== Harvesting ===
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}

==== Maturation ====
Flax is harvested for fiber production after about 100 days, or a month after the plants flower, and two weeks after the seed capsules form. The bases of the plants begin to turn yellow. If the plants are still green, the seed will not be useful, and the fiber will be underdeveloped. The fiber degrades once the plants turn brown.

Flax grown for seed is allowed to mature until the seed capsules are yellow and just starting to split; it is then harvested in various ways. A [[combine harvester]] may either cut only the heads of the plants, or the whole plant. These are then dried to extract the seed. The amount of weeds in the straw affects its marketability, and this, coupled with market prices, determines whether the farmer chooses to harvest the flax straw. If the flax straw is not harvested, typically, it is burned, since the stalks are quite tough and decompose slowly (''i.e.'', not in a single season). Formed into [[windrow]]s from the harvesting process, the straw often clogs up tillage and planting equipment. Flax straw of insufficient quality for fiber use can be baled to build shelters for farm animals, sold as biofuel, or removed from the field in the spring.<ref>{{Citation |last=Michael Raine |title=The last straw: nine ways to handle flax straw |date=27 March 2008 |work=The Western Producer |url=http://www.producer.com/2008/03/the-last-straw-nine-ways-to-handle-flax-straw/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092042/http://www.producer.com/2008/03/the-last-straw-nine-ways-to-handle-flax-straw/ |archive-date=18 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Two ways are used to harvest flax fiber, one involving mechanized equipment (combines), and the second method, is more manual and targets maximum fiber length.

==== Harvesting for fiber ====

===== Mechanical =====
Flax for fiber production is usually harvested by a specialized flax harvester. Usually built on the same machine base as a combine, but instead of the cutting head, it has a flax puller. The flax plant is turned over and is gripped by rubber belts roughly 20–25&nbsp;cm (8–10&nbsp;inches) above ground, to avoid getting grasses and weeds in the flax. The rubber belts then pull the whole plant out of the ground with the roots so the whole length of the plant fiber can be used. The plants then pass over the machine and are placed on the field crosswise to the harvester's direction of travel. The plants are left in the field for field [[retting]].

The mature plant can also be cut with mowing equipment, similar to hay harvesting, and raked into windrows. When dried sufficiently, a combine then harvests the seeds similar to wheat or oat harvesting.

===== Manual =====
The plant is pulled up with the roots (not cut), so as to increase the fiber length. After this, the flax is allowed to dry, the seeds are removed, and it is then [[Retting|retted]]. Depending upon climatic conditions, characteristics of the sown flax, and fields, the flax remains on the ground between two weeks and two months for retting. As a result of alternating rain and the sun, an enzymatic action degrades the pectins that bind fibers to the straw. The farmers turn over the straw during retting to evenly rett the stalks. When the straw is retted and sufficiently dry, it is rolled up. It is then stored by farmers before extracting the fibers.
[[File:Emile Claus001.jpg|thumb|''De vlasoogst'' (1904) ("''The flax harvest''") painting by [[Emile Claus]], [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium]], [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]]]]