Anthony, I feel your pain. I've been thru too many hailstorms where almost everything was destoyed.

But don't pull up any yet. Give them a chance to start new growth, It's still early in the season and they might make it.

What is the variety that you had only one seed for at great expense?

Perhaps I or someone else here knows where more seeds for that variety can be obtained.

Carolyn, where I dodged a wicked storm with hail and high winds this afternoon. It hit about 12 miles to my south.

Wicked!

I wouldn't trade you today's weather but your soil is enviable.

Chin up :-)

That really sucks man. Hopefully they will bounce back. I saw marble size hail once in Glacier National Park, I cant imagine what golf ball size hail would be like.

You have my sympathies. My garden suffered from a hailstorm a couple weeks ago. One came through at 8:00 PM with marble sized hail, then another at midnight with golfball sized hail. Knocked half of my peaches off my peach tree and pretty much destroyed my kitchen garden. No lettuce or carrots this year.

The potatoes and garlic were big enough that having a couple leaves torn from them wouldn't kill them. My tomatoes were in containers, so I was able to get them up onto the back porch before they got damaged. In doing so, though, *I* got some hail damage.

Agree with above. The season's young. If the plants have some life left, they may spring back.

I'm so sorry to see it. We've had two hail storms go by today. My plants by the house in containers are ok. They did get hit by the hail. I haven't checked the garden yet. The last storm just finished going through about 10 minutes ago.

Thanks for all of the kind thoughts, I know that many of you have experienced similar things before (I have only been growing a short time, this is the first time I have ever lost a plant to anything, except for 1 plant earlier this year to sunburn/wind damage). Most of the remaining stem stubs have a bit of room to sucker, hopefully can get a few fruits from them this year...too bad season is so short.

Carolyn, unfortunately I promised someone that I would not disclose the seed for a variety of reasons...but had 7 seeds last year and was 0 for 7, and of 12 seeds this year only 1 germinated...it is OP so was going to bag blossoms and save seeds. Plant was very badly sunburned after I planted, and then was hit by frost, but I carefully pulled it out of the ground, planted it in a trench with the tip sticking out, and over the last few weeks it had grown into a very strong seedling. Has two 1/3 inch suckers still alive, I will baby it and hopefully they will grow.

One of the most surprising thing was the number of stems/growing tips that got snapped right off, would not have expected that the parts facing straight up would take so many direct hits. Some plants lost only 1 or 2 branches but lost 2 growing tips and a few suckers...that hail had excellent aim. Oh well, production will be down a bit. Luckily I spread most varieties around different parts of the garden, but most of my good ones were concentrated at the front where the damage occurred. Lost 2 of 3 big zacs (so much for my big tomato growing contest), and the third was smacked up pretty good. 2 of 4 cherokee purple and 2 of 4 indian stripe gone. One of 3 black krim done, another badly damaged. Sigh...lesson learned but not much that I could do about this, besides having a lot of back-up plants. No nurseries in the area sell heirloom varieties, best I could hope for is 'big boy', 'early girl', or 'beefsteak' (whatever that is). But I will let these guys try to come back, will be a good experiment.

wow where are you located?

Man it just kills you when you have grown them all the way from seed, doesn't it? But I think you'll be surprised anthony how many will come back! Went through a similar storm 2 years back and while many looked like yours, all but 1 of them revived - delayed production, but produce it did. Since no good replacements are available, coddle these along and I'll bet many of them will reward you for the chance.

Here's hoping no more bad luck for you this year - you have had your share! ;)

Dave

Anthony, we had the same type of storms hit here on Sunday, I thought for sure my plants would be goners, but thankfully, there was very little damage done, despite all the hail and wind. I grow all heirlooms, and have a few of the ones you mentioned plus others. I wish I was closer, you could just come and pick some up, as I am now at the point when I just give away my extras! I have Omar's Lebanese, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and others yet to find a spot in the garden (I suspect they won't). But as said already, they may come back and surprise you!

Thanks Dave, though my earlier problems were more my own fault (different seedling growing method lead to very weak roots and leggy plants, and my lack of hardening off (which had not affected my plants in the prior 3 years) was too much for the less-established specimens...and you heard about the results of the sunburn/frost damage). Still, I did get them to recover very well, only a bit more than 2 weeks in the ground and I think they look pretty good in the pics above, and they are thickening up nicely, and becoming wider and leafier by the day, until today of course. Will nurture the stems, and I was thinking of feeding them some N to encourage foliage growth, but will give them a day or two.

Sammy, I am tempted to hop in the car and drive to Que., I would love more black krims and cherokee purples...but with the cost of gas I don't think it would work. I wonder how tomatoes would ship? With heat and humidity lately, I expect that they would not do very well.

Here's one more shot of what I found when I got home, mostly melted but still a mess. Most were no bigger than a grape:

Carolyn, unfortunately I promised someone that I would not disclose the seed for a variety of reasons...but had 7 seeds last year and was 0 for 7, and of 12 seeds this year only 1 germinated...it is OP so was going to bag blossoms and save seeds. Plant was very badly sunburned after I planted, and then was hit by frost, but I carefully pulled it out of the ground, planted it in a trench with the tip sticking out, and over the last few weeks it had grown into a very strong seedling. Has two 1/3 inch suckers still alive, I will baby it and hopefully they will grow.

*****

Anthony, it's a bit hard for me to appreciate that someone would want a variety kept secret, especially since you said you paid good money for the seeds, b'c I'm all for sharing what I have, and that's been close to 300 different varieties offered here at GW alone in the past.

And all the tomato folks that are close friends of mine are also those who share what they have.

But if that's the case, then so be it. I was only trying to help/

Let,s hope that plant survives and bears for you.

Carolyn

Anthony:
Chin up, and my condolences to you, I am so glad that you and yours are safe, around here hailstorms such as that are often accompanied with strong rotating winds.

Hope you salvage and have a good season after all.

Tom

Carolyn, I wish I could mention it, but I made that promise, and I believe the person is also a retailer, so I don't feel comfortable mentioning it/asking for seeds. Fingers are crossed that I can get those suckers to grow, if so it is in a good location to get lots of sun and ripen 1 or 2 fruits by the end of our short season.

Tom, I was in downtown Toronto at the time of the storm (about an hour away from home), I just wish I was home to witness the storm, there was apparently quite a volume of hail, some of which was very large, must have been a fascinating sight. About 30-40% received some damage, but only 25% were really badly banged up, so season should work out fine.

Just a thought, but if you are looking for replacements, have you tried freecycle, or any of those types of message boards? Here in Ottawa area, we have a plantcycle, along with other message boards, and lots of different plants are offered, some free. In Toronto there must be tons of people who grow heirlooms from seed, and can't bear to compost their backups, and would probably have lots of extras (as I do) looking for homes. It's just a matter of finding them! Even here on Gardenweb, perhaps try the Canadian forums.

Oh, those pictures just hurt me. Last year I lost half my tomatoes to pea sized hale, the day after I planted them. This year I built a tomato palace with 7 foot stakes, wrapped like a box 3' up from the ground with plastic, and filled up 2 liter bottles with water to absorb heat. If a bad storm comes, I can lay a blanket over the top of the stakes. That is, if I'm home.

2 weeks since hail hit, undamaged plants have grown, damaged plants have recovered to some degree, see below vs. above pics:

Also some pics of progress of the undamaged plants

Sweet Pea Currant doing ok

Marianne's Peace nice and bushy

Black Cherry stemming like crazy (decided to leave more suckers/stems this year to see what happens to production...so far plants are getting big and full but flowers are few and far between)

Flowering is a few weeks behind last year. Hopefully we get some sun and warm weather, and hopefully fall is delayed by a few weeks so I can get some nice production. Lots of blossom drop, far too many fused blossoms, lots of blossoms that seemed to set fruit but fruit only made it to the size of a pea and then did nothing. I do have one indian stripe ripening, but plant had little foliage due to bad sunburn and partial hail damage, so not sure if it will have any flavour. Will update again later in the season.
Anthony

We just had a hail storm a few days ago, luckily my plants were shaded (Balcony Garden). Minor damage, but i was like.. Ohhh sh***t.

Never seen such chaotic weather. Lots of thunderstorms these days.

It's always more devastating when we raise them from seed. It's like they are our "babies" and we don't plant them, we nurture them from adolescense to puberty and then adulthood. Anthony, you have my thoughts with you. Been there and it don't feel good. Years back when I wore an Air Force uniform, I was stationed at Cannon AFB, NM and lived in the town of Clovis. Thunderstorms out there are measured on a different scale. When they would build up, I always remembered that movie title, "Something evil this way comes". We had one come through and dumped 18" of 3/4" hail on my house and yard. I lost 18 tomato plants, the entire crop from a pear and 2 apple trees, a large collection of roses and most of the flowering plants and even a lot of the grass in the yard. What wasn't beat to pieces, was frozen by the ice that lasted for a day and a half. Fortunately, the pitch of the roof of the house prevented major damage there. I had neighbors who were not as lucky. I remember having that question in my mind, as I know you must have had, "Why me?"

I would like to echo Carolyn. If there's anything you need, ask. We'll try to help. I don't have many of the varieties, but my seed box is open. Cheer up, you're among friendly folks here.