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Rolla, ND | It will grow, but I don't know if it will be profitable for you.
For instance there aren't any crushers near you so it's a matter of can you tap into a premium feed market for it?
As for yields, it will do well where you have a little bit more cool, relatively dry weather than would let you grow good spring wheat. If you can't grow good spring wheat, I'd guess you likely don't have a long enough suitable season for flax.
It's not very deep rooted. It's not competitive with weeds are you don't have a lot of herbicide options, some, just not a lot. It's susceptible to things like sceptoria if it gets wet (pasmo).
Don't plant it behind a broadleaf crop or you will likely see it drop over dead.
It's probably the crop most dependant on fungi for taking up nutrients so it tends to like no till.
After harvest, it's probably easiest to bale the straw off, even if you don't have a use for it. It actually makes very durable bedding, as well as houses, forts, erosion control dams, and so on. Tends to last for years. As it rots you have the linen fibers so it actually gets very soft and silky, and those last a long time.
People who think their drills will go through anything break down in tears trying to seed in flax straw.
It also has the same heat value as soft coal, burns very nice. So many you can build a bale burner and heat your whole farm from it.
And you might notice that Roundup is almost always sprayed preharvest on flax, even when people use it for seed, they are just careful not to spray early. Reason being sprayed flax combines much easier.
So anyway, I'd think you could grow it, but if the heat comes when I think it comes in your area. I'd expect maybe 15 bushel flax. Just my guess. It grows in heat but doesn't yield well in heat.
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flax question
