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 Biology
Madder is a long lived perennial of the family Rubiaceae, the same family as coffee.
The plant sprouts in early April and grows up to 60 to 100cm high.
The star-shaped leaves are prickly and may cause a skin rash.
Small pale-yellow flowers appear by the end of June and green berries by mid July.
By the end of September the berries have swollen to a small blackcurrant or bilberry size, and turned dark grey to black.
In late autumn, the plants begin to die down, the berries to dry and the seeds look like black peppercorns. Throughout winter the madder bed looks dead, as if covered with straw.
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History
Madder roots have been used as a dye for over 5,000 years. Archaeologists have found traces of madder in linen in Tutankhamen’s tomb (1350 BC), and in wool discovered in Norse burial grounds.
Druids are said to have used garments dyed with madder in girls' coming of age ceremonies.
Madder was fed to white horses and hawks to colour hooves, teeth, beak and talons. There is even a mention of feeding madder to sheep to dye their wool (see links).
In Ireland, women piled a paste of simmered madder roots on their fingernails to stain them. The result was a red rosy glow that looked very natural.
It is likely that most early American flags were made with wool dyed either with cochineal or madder or with a combination of the two. And more recently, the leather casing of cricket balls was dyed red with madder.
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Cultivation
 Plant each seed in a small pot filled with compost. Fresh seeds are much more likely to germinate, but be sure to protect them from slugs, which love eating young madder. Madder takes easily from cuttings too.
Once established, it spreads and creeps, clinging to upright structures and can become invasive. Adding lime to the soil during the winter helps the plant to produce better reds.
Harvest - Digging the roots
 The minimum age for harvesting madder is three years, but the best age is five years, when the roots are pencil thick. Fifteen-year old plants produce roots that are one inch in diameter. It is best to have three or more madder beds, and dig them in rotation.
Some people say that the best time to dig the roots is in the winter, when the prickly foliage is dry, and most of the nutrients are in the roots. Others say the August is the best month to dig them, the roots being easier to clean after a week or two of good weather. I prefer to use fresh roots in my dye vat, and I dig them up when I need them, using thick gloves. I usually dig a patch 1m by 1m in my three year old madder bed, and fill a bucket with roots.
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Washing the roots
 I fill a five-litre bucket with water and agitate the roots inside the bucket to loosen the soil. Then, rather than tipping the water from the bucket, I prefer to move the roots to another bucket. This way the soil stays in the bottom of the first bucket, rather than getting mixed with the roots again. I turn the first bucket upside down and wash it. I then alternate between buckets a few times.
Cutting the roots
 Madder root is very hard to cut when dry, and I usually cut mine in small pieces using a pair of secateurs soon after I have washed them.
The centre of a thick root is yellow immediately after I cut it, but it quickly turns red with exposure to the air.
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Yield of dye
I weigh the cut roots to have an idea of how much fabric I can dye. I usually aim for about 850 grams of freshly-dug roots, which is about a five-litre bucket full of uncut roots. This will fill a ten-litre saucepan when liquidised. 100 grams of fresh madder makes 14 grams of dried madder and 850 grams produces about 110-120 grams of dried madder.
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