This time of year, storms can be bad. We have had quite a few storm systems move through the area over the past few weeks. Some of these storms included high winds, hail, and even tornadoes. Unfortunately, when storms are severe they cause a lot of damage to our plants. This damage can’t be ‘fixed’ like it can on cars, but we can do things to help plants survive after storms.
Tree and Shrub Damage
If heavy winds come and break branches, remove the injured branches with a good pruning cut to allow the plant to seal up the wound. If the storm broke the top out of the tree, it would be a good idea to get a Certified Arborist in to look at the damage to determine if the tree can be salvaged.
Hail can cause damage to the leaves and bark of trees. If the leaves on your tree look ragged and ripped due to hail, it is mostly aesthetic damage. The leaves are still on the tree and able to produce sugars through photosynthesis for the tree, so it isn’t as damaging as it looks. Damage to the bark on the trunk and branches can be more problematic, unfortunately there is nothing that can fix this but time. You will always have wounds where hail hit the tree, but over time the tree will recover and seal these wounds. If there are a lot of large hail wounds to a small tree, it might be the demise, but give it time to see if it pulls through.
Perennial Plant Damage
Perennials can see a lot of damage after storms too. Hostas can really show damage from hail. Remove severely hail damaged leaves, but try to leave as much green tissue as possible to help with photosynthesis and plant recovery. If only a few leaves have holes in them from hail, remove those to stop diseases from entering through these wounds. Perennials should regrow but need some leaves for that to happen. Give them time to recover.
Garden Damage
As with perennials, the recovery of a vegetable plant is determined by the situation. Depending on the damage, and size of the plants in your garden, you may need to replant and it is still early enough to do this. If the main stem was broken, it wis best to replant. If there are some tears in the leaves, try to leave it if you can. If there are a lot of tears in the leaves, you might want to do some pruning to remove the damage.
General Plant Care after Hail
Avoid excessive leaf removal where you can. You can prune out the heavily damaged leaves and stems, but leave as much as you can to help the plant recover. Also, do NOT fertilize your plants until they have fully recovered from the storm damage. Fertilizing stressed plants will further stress them. Keep the plants mulched properly, 2-3 inches is the recommended depth of wood chip mulches. Also, be sure to keep the soils around your plants evenly moist, not soggy and not dry. Use a screwdriver to help determine the need for irrigation.
All plants damaged by hail or strong winds that have open wounds are now more susceptible to disease issues. Keep an eye out as plant diseases start and remove infected leaves or branches as soon as possible when they show up. Use fungicides as necessary just as new diseases begin.
