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Hemp has traditionally been grown for its valuable and versatile high quality (primary bast) fibers. The production of these fibers has traditionally been a very labour intensive process. After harvesting, the hemp stalks are soaked with water to initiate a process of retting (the decompositional separation of the bark-like bast fibers from the inner woody core). After the retting process, the plants are dried and then the fiber must be separated from the hurds, shaken out, and cleaned. Once separated, the bast fibers are ready for further processing: additional refining for spinning and weaving into textiles, or for pulping into high quality pulp.
Bast fibers account for 20-30% of the stalk (depending primarily on seed variety, and planting density) and come in two varieties:
- primary bast fibers (approx. 70%) which are long, high in cellulose and low in lignin. These fibers are the most valuable part of the stalk, and are generally considered to be among the strongest plant fibers known to mankind.
- secondary bast fibers (approx. 30%) which are medium length and higher in lignin are less valuable and become more prevalent when the hemp plants are grown less densely (thereby competing less for light), and thus grow shorter, fatter stalks.
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