Do you have to water hostas with hail damage more?

15 years ago

Two weeks ago we had that horrible hail storm here and my hostas all looked like this or worse:

It also hailed while we were gone on vacation last week. My hostas are very dried out by the hail holes and tears, so I was wondering if they are losing a lot of water because of the damage. If so, should I be watering them more than normal?

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Comments (8)

esther_opal
15 years ago
What is left will make roots so water, how much, as much as they need to not droop.
regattagirl
15 years ago
Agree with EO here.

Photosynthesis = CO2 + WATER + light absorbed by leaves, even damaged ones....

Photosynthesis is how the plant will energize itself to power up for next year.
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DO NOTHING FOR 2 or 3 weeks.. then.. SELECTIVELY .. TAKE OUT THE WORST leaves of each clump ... just pull them out.. to avoid having to sterilize your shears every plant.. just slide you fingers down the petiole.. and rip it from the crown ... you will be surprised.. how removing.. maybe 3 or 4.. will make it look so much better ... and then later.. when they flush in mid summer.. remove a few more if necessary ... if they do come up on stored energy .. and you immediately go out and remove everything.. you better hope there is enough stored energy to do it again .. any if you do that.. expect all clumps to be smaller next year ... if you wish a perfect garden.. then yes.. you wait for next year ... but once you get over the shock.. you will have a very nice garden this year.. just relax about it ... some say mother nature is a cruel mistress ... frankly.. she is just a bi+ch ... ken
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When this happened to me in the past, I did not do anything. The first leaves will be damaged, but new leaves will form and in July/August plants will look good again. Do not cut off damaged leaves because the good part will still be producing. I would cut off lateron the dried part of leaves and very bad looking leaves after new leaves have fully formed. The same also applies to hail damage. There were comparisons given in the Hosta Journal, people who cut off all damaged leaves lost, had small plants next year. Bernd
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hope this worked itself out for you!
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view from the porch...it was Hail ! do you have pics ???
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I was shocked when hubby brought that inside. It was in the mid seventies so it could have melted a bit before he got home too. When you think about it I was probably better off not going out in it to bring our daughter's vehicle inside. That size could do some damage to the human body too. I'm already loony enough I don't need hit in the head with hail to make me any worse off! Carmin I hope all is well for you. I head about the storms on east coast and been praying for you all. Wow Southern Frenchie, that is scary. During the construction of our home there was a terrible hail storm. Hubby was hear working on the house. We lived about seventeen miles south of here and didn't get the hail so I had no clue until he called me and asked me to come out with the camera. By the time I let the animals out and headed up it was an hour after the storm had stopped and the hail was still quite large. I'll see if I can find some pictures later. Right now I really have to make myself cut out some WTs for my client since it looks like hubby's going to be home late enough that he'll be pretty tired. Too tired to help though I know he would if I asked. I won't though. I did have this picture I took of some in my hand. It's blurry, but I took the pix myself of my own hand. Not an easy task. Remember this was an hour after the storm. Hubby said they much larger when he first came out.
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botanybabe
15 years ago
All that above is true, but the answer to your question is YES. The more holes in the hosta, the more moisture is lost into the air.

Lainey
janetpetiole
15 years ago
Jen, I didn't realize you had that much damage.

How heartbreaking... :-(
regattagirl
15 years ago
It will be great satisfaction when they come back next year! I can't wait to see them!
newhostaaddict
15 years ago
jen...

you must have been in that "pocket" that got the golf ball sized hail...

we only got pea size here...and really no damage at all to the plants...

so sorry you got hit...

jill
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
you have to give them.. the amount of water that a hosta needs .... in your garden... in your soil ... in your heat

i doubt they need more due to damage ... and no matter how much you give them.. they are going to look like carp for the rest of the year ...

its root growing time.. storing energy for next year .. and the ability to generate food has been impacted by the damage .. so water away ...

ken
aka_margo
Original Author
15 years ago
Jill-
We only had pea sized hail, but in some areas the hail was 5 inches deep. I don't know when it hailed while we were gone. I had just put some new hostas in before I left on vacation, and I come home a week later and they look like the other ones.
Jen

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Do you have to water hostas with hail damage more?

Comments (8)

esther_opal

regattagirl

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botanybabe

janetpetiole

regattagirl

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Do you have to water hostas with hail damage more?

Comments (8)

esther_opal

regattagirl

Related Discussions

botanybabe

janetpetiole

regattagirl

newhostaaddict

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

aka_margoOriginal Author

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aka_margo
Original Author