Pest
Bud fly (kali makkhi)
Signs · Tiny maggots inside flower buds; buds dry up and never form capsules.
Manage · Timely sowing (by early November), tolerant varieties, and a spray at bud stage only if your KVK advises, as per label.
All crops
Oilseed · Linaceae (flax family)
Linseed
Alsi · अलसी · Linum usitatissimum
Small blue flowers, seeds rich in omega-3 — oil, food and fibre from one crop.
Linseed is a hardy rabi oilseed grown in UP (especially Bundelkhand), Bihar, MP and Rajasthan. Its seed is eaten for health and crushed for industrial oil, and dual-purpose varieties also give fibre from the stem. It needs few inputs and suits rotation after rice or kharif pulses.
- Sowing
- 10 Oct – 10 Nov
- Harvest
- 15 Mar – 10 Apr
- Duration
- 120–145 days
- Yield
- 4.9–7.3 q/acre
- 12–18 q/ha
Flowering · roots shown through the soil
At a glance
Linseed in one look
Needs cool weather. Frost at flowering, and hot winds at seed filling, cut yield.
Sowing time
10 Oct – 10 Nov
Harvest
15 Mar – 10 Apr
120–145 days from sowing
Temperature
12–25 °C to grow
18–25 °C at sowing
Soil
Clay loam to loam; also deep black soils
pH 6–7.5
Seed rate
10–12 kg/acre
25–30 kg/ha
Spacing
30 × 5 cm
2–3 cm deep
Irrigations
2–3
3 critical stages
Yield
4.9–7.3 q/acre
12–18 q/ha
Season
AugSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJun
Grown most inUttar PradeshMadhya PradeshBiharRajasthanHimachal Pradesh
Moisture-holding soils suit it best. Avoid waterlogged and very sandy fields.
Seed to harvest
Watch linseed grow, stage by stage
Scroll through the season. The plant in the glass tank grows to each stage — roots and all — and every card says what the crop is doing and what you should do in the field that week.
Stage 1 of 7
Sowing
Day 0–3
- 1Day 0–3
Sowing
Shallow-sown seed takes up water; its coat turns slippery.
Your job · Sow shallow in lines; apply pre-emergence weedicide.
- 2Day 4–10
Germination
Two small seed leaves appear above the soil.
Your job · Check the stand; re-sow gaps early.
- 3Day 11–30
Seedling
A thin stem with narrow leaves grows slowly.
Your job · First hand weeding; thin crowded patches.
- 4Day 31–55
Branching
Branches form from the base and the plant grows taller.
Your job · First irrigation and top-dress the remaining nitrogen.
- 5Day 56–85
Flowering
Sky-blue (or white) five-petal flowers open in the morning and close by afternoon.
Your job · Irrigate if dry; scout for bud fly and rust.
- 6Day 86–115
Capsule filling
Round capsules (bolls) form, each holding up to ten flat, shiny seeds.
Your job · Last irrigation if the soil is dry; watch for powdery mildew.
- 7Day 116–140
Maturity
Capsules turn golden-brown, leaves dry and seeds rattle inside.
Your job · Harvest before capsules split open.
The seed
Good seed is half the harvest
Use certified seed of a variety bred for your region, at the right rate, and treat it before sowing.
One seed
≈ 4.5 mm
Seed rate
10–12 kg/acre
25–30 kg/ha
1000-seed weight
—
Recommended varieties
ShekharCSAUAT Kanpur; for irrigated conditions in UP.
GarimaCSAUAT Kanpur; widely grown in UP and Bihar.
ShubhraCSAUAT Kanpur; good seed yield in the plains.
ParvatiCSK HPKV Palampur; for the hills of Himachal.
Seed treatment
- 1Treat with carbendazim at 2 g per kg seed, or thiram at about 3 g per kg, against wilt and blight.
- 2Or use Trichoderma at 4–5 g per kg seed.
Field & sowing
Prepare the land, then sow at the right gap and depth
Line sowing with a seed drill or behind the plough
Layout
Flat beds
Row to row
30 cm
Plant to plant
5 cm
Depth
2–3 cm
Land preparation
- 1Plough 2–3 times to a fine tilth and plank after each ploughing.
- 2Give a pre-sowing irrigation if the field is dry.
- 3Level well; make small beds for easy irrigation.
Sowing, step by step
- 1Sow in lines 25–30 cm apart.
- 2Keep the seed shallow, 2–3 cm — small seed cannot push up from deep.
- 3Keep plants about 5–7 cm apart in the row; thin if too dense.
Feeding the crop
How much fertiliser, and when
These are the standard doses for a medium-fertility field. Your Soil Health Card can raise or lower them — test first, then feed.
Nutrient dose
Nitrogen (N)32 kg/acre · 80 kg/ha
Phosphorus (P₂O₅)16 kg/acre · 40 kg/ha
Potassium (K₂O)16 kg/acre · 40 kg/ha
Plus 8 t/ha (3.2 t/acre) of well-rotted farmyard manure or compost.
When to apply
- 1At sowing: half the nitrogen and all phosphorus and potash.
- 2At first irrigation (about 35 days): the remaining nitrogen.
- 3Give potash only if the soil test shows it is low.
Micronutrients, sulphur & biofertilisers
- 1Sulphur 20–30 kg/ha through SSP or gypsum improves oil content.
- 2Zinc sulphate 25 kg/ha where soils are zinc-deficient.
Bags for your field
For 1 acre of Linseed
What to buy
Urea
1.5
bags · 57 kg
DAP
0.5
bags · 35 kg
MOP
0.5
bags · 27 kg
Nutrients in it: N 32 kg · P₂O₅ 16 kg · K₂O 16 kg
Also add farmyard manure or compost: 3.2 t
- Don't put it all in at once: follow the timing on the Linseed page.
- Your Soil Health Card can raise or lower these amounts. If you have one, follow it.
- Using SSP, NPK complexes or gypsum instead changes these amounts; the nutrient dose is what matters.
Not yet checked against a package of practices. Confirm the dose with your KVK before you buy.
Urea has 46 % N; DAP 18 % N and 46 % P₂O₅; MOP 60 % K₂O. Urea comes in 45 kg bags, DAP and MOP in 50 kg.
Water
2–3 irrigations — never miss the critical ones
A crop forgives a late irrigation at some stages and punishes it at others. These are the days that decide yield.
Day 35
Day 65
Day 95
SowingDay 145
Critical irrigations
- Day 35Branching
- Day 65Flowering
- Day 95Capsule filling
Watering tips
- 1Flowering is the most sensitive time — never let the field go dry then.
- 2Light irrigations are better than heavy flooding.
- 3Irrigate lightly before a forecast frost.
Protection
Weeds, pests and diseases to watch for
Walk the field every week. Most problems are cheap to stop early and expensive to fix late. For any spray, follow the label dose and check with your KVK.
Disease
Rust
Signs · Bright orange powdery pustules on leaves and stems, later turning black.
Manage · Grow resistant varieties and remove volunteer plants; fungicide spray at first pustules as per label / your KVK.
Disease
Powdery mildew
Signs · White powdery coating on leaves late in the season.
Manage · Spray wettable sulphur at first appearance, as per label / your KVK.
Disease
Wilt
Signs · Plants droop, yellow and dry, often in patches; roots look brown.
Manage · Seed treatment, crop rotation of 3–4 years and summer ploughing.
Disease
Alternaria blight
Signs · Dark spots on leaves; flower buds and capsules blacken.
Manage · Clean seed and seed treatment; mancozeb spray at first spots, as per label / your KVK.
Disorder
Frost injury
Signs · Flowers and young capsules turn white and drop after a frosty night.
Manage · Light irrigation before frost; smoke on the windward side at night.
Weeds
Common · Bathua, krishneel, wild oats and the parasitic dodder (amarbel)
- 1Hand weeding at 25–30 and 45 days.
- 2Pre-emergence pendimethalin, as per label / your KVK.
- 3Use dodder-free seed; pull and burn dodder patches before they flower.
Harvest
Harvest on time, dry it well, store it safe
A good crop gives
4.9–7.3q/acre
12–18 quintal per hectare
Seed holds about 33–45% oil, rich in omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid).
When is it ready?
- 1Most capsules turn golden-brown.
- 2Leaves dry and fall; stems turn yellow.
- 3Seeds rattle when you shake a capsule.
Harvesting
- 1Cut with a sickle near the ground (pull plants by hand for fibre).
- 2Dry the bundles in the sun for a few days.
- 3Thresh by beating with sticks or with a thresher; clean with a winnower.
After harvest & storage
- 1Dry seed to about 8–9% moisture.
- 2Store in airtight bins or bags in a cool, dry place.
- 3For fibre, ret (soak) the stems in water and separate the fibre.
Golden rules for linseed
- 1Sow on time — late crops get more bud fly and frost.
- 2Keep sowing shallow; deep seed fails to come up.
- 3Use dodder-free seed.
- 4Flowering stage must not face water stress.