Hail Damage on Crops and Plants

July 3rd, 2010

A few weeks ago we had a pretty bad storm that included some hail. I believe most people usually embellish the size of the hail they experience, I won’t do that, so let me honestly say we were dealing with blueberry sized hail. It didn’t fall for very long, but long enough to cause some misery.

Every large-leaved plant I grow got damaged. Spinach, hostas, grapes, lettuces, just to name a few.

The damage was pretty severe and in the case of my food crops, retarded their growth somewhat. It was like someone shot my garden with a shot gun, leaves had holes torn right through them, it was hail though, not bugs, because nothing was eaten, you could pick up the tatters and reform them into a perfect leaf.

As a home gardener it sucked a little bit, of course, but I cannot imagine what it’d mean for a farmer, a spinach farmer could have his entire field ruined, but I guess that is what crop insurance is for. Still, that did not always exist, in older times it had to have caused an immense hardship for communities if there was a hail storm.

In fact, I think hail is probably the worst weather disaster that can befall crops. A flood can be avoided through site selection, and floods tend to occur in Spring, leaving you fertile soil for summer planting, and a late freeze sucks, killing plants, but it is early enough in the growing season to start over. A mid summer hail though could kill or ruin everything, and it may be too late for another crop to be started. Definitely the worst of the lot if you ask me.

Posted in: Gardening » 

5 Responses to “Hail Damage on Crops and Plants”

  1. Scentsy Wickless Candles  Says:
    July 9th, 2010 at 2:07 am

    I never thought how this must affect our farmers and their lives. I hope your crops will recover as best as possible.

  2. Alan Maclay  Says:
    July 19th, 2010 at 8:11 pm

    it is the worst moment for our farmers when these storms are coming. also it affects us because the crops that we eat becomes bad,. i hope too that our crops will recover.

  3. ewa  Says:
    July 28th, 2010 at 5:14 am

    weather is raging this year on entire globe – we’ve had extreme heat in last 2 weeks, now we have storms… aaarrrgh!

  4. Steph@Birth Month Flowers  Says:
    August 5th, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    We fortunately have not had this happen to us (all our hostas are under a tree), but I can’t imagine being a farmer who grew spinach when this happens.

    Did your plants all recover okay? Ours have been damaged by the scorching sun – something Michigan gardens are just not used to.

  5. Tony  Says:
    August 8th, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Hi Chris, Great website. Yes hail is a pain and damages a lot of gardens, etc.

    Tony

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