Bombed by hail

b54red · March 28, 2011

We had a nice little storm today that was heralded by the pounding of hail on the roof. The hail was the biggest I've had hit my garden in about 20 years, but luckily it didn't last too long. I really lucked out with hundreds of small seedlings hardening off and unprotected I was amazed the quarter sized hail did so little damage to them. Of the forty tomatoes that were already out and growing good in the garden two were totally busted up and will have to be replaced and almost all of them look like I went at them with hedge clippers with leaves and branches cut off and lying around the base of the plants. It just amazed me how much more damage it did to the larger plants and I hardly lost a leaf on the small seedlings though some of the styrofoam cups took a beating on the edges. My cabbage and broccoli got some big holes in the leaves but nothing too serious. Many years ago when we got hail this large it came down for a long time and totally destroyed my garden and denuded all my fruit trees so I feel very fortunate. If the weather cooperates I will replace the lost plants and inspect the damaged ones and see if they are too far gone. I have several with the central stem knocked out but a few side shoots starting below the brake. Should I replace them or just depend on the suckers to form a new main stem? I have plenty of replacement plants and if it is better to replace them, now is a good time while they are relatively small.

March 28, 2011	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Bombed by hail We had a nice little storm today that was heralded by the pounding of hail on the roof. The hail was the biggest I've had hit my garden in about 20 years, but luckily it didn't last too long. I really lucked out with hundreds of small seedlings hardening off and unprotected I was amazed the quarter sized hail did so little damage to them. Of the forty tomatoes that were already out and growing good in the garden two were totally busted up and will have to be replaced and almost all of them look like I went at them with hedge clippers with leaves and branches cut off and lying around the base of the plants. It just amazed me how much more damage it did to the larger plants and I hardly lost a leaf on the small seedlings though some of the styrofoam cups took a beating on the edges. My cabbage and broccoli got some big holes in the leaves but nothing too serious. Many years ago when we got hail this large it came down for a long time and totally destroyed my garden and denuded all my fruit trees so I feel very fortunate. If the weather cooperates I will replace the lost plants and inspect the damaged ones and see if they are too far gone. I have several with the central stem knocked out but a few side shoots starting below the brake. Should I replace them or just depend on the suckers to form a new main stem? I have plenty of replacement plants and if it is better to replace them, now is a good time while they are relatively small.