Wet flax ???

[Sheepwheat]

My flax was about 20 yesterday. It combined well. But it is very much like thick stew. I don’t dare put it in the bin.

Anyone with experience, what is the max you would take it at? Frustrating as it was going through easy at minus ten. Humidity was 90% though. How much does high humidity affect seed moisture? I mean, if the humidity drops, will seed drop much?

I just can’t see it coming down much? Anyway, flax standing good in the snow so far. It just never matured.

Thanks for any discussion. Just today’s rambling.

[farmaholic]

Sounds unmagaable to me.

[seldomseen]

Yes I would agree unmanageable. Flax as wet as 20 would be sticky and tough to dry in my opinion but really have only experienced at 13 and it was still tough to dry. Hard to control plenum temp with flax at the best of times
If we can get a couple weeks of sunshine and warmer temps some moisture could come out. I have never left it out over winter but have had people tell me it weathers good most winters but if mice get bad they can do a lot of damage. Standing should help with mice.
Good luck getting the weather you need.

[AC man]

I have grown a lot of flax over the years but no experience with real tough over 11.5mc. Flax is one crop sticks to everything with any amount of moisture. Like farma said very unmanageable at that moisture. I would contact caseih, from a previous thread,he was able to freeze dry 16mc flax at -40. I know flax is very tough to blow air through.He did this before he had a grain dryer. Good luck! I hope this helps you.

[AC man]

I was just going to add that ,I have left flax over winter twice in swath. Had good results both times,combined easy,really dry and still no.1. There was probably some weight loss.

[foragefarmer]

At that moisture why even attempt to combine it as it can't be stored. Grind it up and feed it in a ration to those sheep you have, at least you'll get something out of it.

[farmaholic]

Sheepwheat.

Interesting factoids....

A tonne of flax has 39.368 bushels in it. That is a 56 lb. bushel. 331 grams per half liter.

#1 flax needs a minimum of 305 grams/.5 liter(52 lbs. per bushel)
#2 flax needs a minimum of 290 grams/.5 liter(49.7 lbs. per bushel)
#3 has no minimum weight.

56 pound flax must be hard to grow if they accept 305 grams as a #1, thats 26 grams less than "ideal/impossible(?)" weight.

But only 15 more grams per half liter loss in weight pushes you into a #2. We have #2 this year...less than 305 grams.

Knowing that, do you really think it's worth dicking around with insanely "wet" flax?

I realize you might have a completely different set of "over-wintering" circumstances than we would have. Alot of loss to low spots full of water and wild-life damage????

Best of luck. You never know you might get a chance yet to harvest something manageable.

[Sheepwheat]

Sheepwheat.

Interesting factoids....

A tonne of flax has 39.368 bushels in it. That is a 56 lb. bushel. 331 grams per half liter.

#1 flax needs a minimum of 305 grams/.5 liter(52 lbs. per bushel)
#2 flax needs a minimum of 290 grams/.5 liter(49.7 lbs. per bushel)
#3 has no minimum weight.

56 pound flax must be hard to grow if they accept 305 grams as a #1, thats 26 grams less than "ideal/impossible(?)" weight.

But only 15 more grams per half liter loss in weight pushes you into a #2. We have #2 this year...less than 305 grams.

Knowing that, do you really think it's worth dicking around with insanely "wet" flax?

I realize you might have a completely different set of "over-wintering" circumstances than we would have. Alot of loss to low spots full of water and wild-life damage????

Best of luck. You never know you might get a chance yet to harvest something manageable.

I am in a crop insurance claim position with my bit of flax. It is therefore worth trying hard. Been there done that waiting for final tally come spring, I ain’t too wealthy!! Yes, winter conditions suck here generally. Lots of snow is the main thing. Standing flax will not be standing in spring. It is in my and scic’s best interest for me to get it off this year. Lol

I was totally shocked at the moisture yesterday. I thought it would be much more manageable. I was hoping for under 14.

Thanks to all for input!

[samhill]

Not positive about this as about 12 years since I have grown flax but I believe I dried 16 percent h2o in a recirculating batch dryer without problems, maybe someone else can input on that.

[VK58]

Not positive about this as about 12 years since I have grown flax but I believe I dried 16 percent h2o in a recirculating batch dryer without problems, maybe someone else can input on that.

We dried wet flax for neighbour, ice filled tested 13 off the combine frozen but completely off the charts once we warmed it up. We used a recirculating batch dryer worked ok, low heat take your time watch like a hawk to make sure it was circulating evenly. Worked better when 1 batch was done, dumped half refilled again dried again. Not very efficient but got dry flax. If you can find a Tox-o-Wik dryer with a built in agitator they help a lot.