We had a really bad hail storm in Austin, TX this week and all of our pepper plants have been obliterated.
As we’re going through the cleanup process, we’re unsure how low we should go when it comes to trim out plants. All the stems are damaged and there are no leaves left. Do we chop down to the main stem or do we just chop off a little? Furthermore, summer is starting and it’s about to get real hot real soon. Should we do anything to help promote regrowth? This our second year growing peppers and first time going through something like this so any tips would be helpful!
by sarahcanarah
5 Comments
I’m from the UK but have been in Killeen for the past couple of months. No idea how you grow anything out here with the weather you have. Mental
lol bro i’m so sorry. I’m laughing how comically horrible it is with the leaves sprayed like blood all
over the shed they were murdered against. I just had a random 1/2” hail storm the other day and still haven’t planted my peppers this season thank fuck. Wishing you the best.
So… In my area (rain shadow of the rockies) hailstorms are regular, 4-5 storms a year of dime-nickel size is common. Ive ended up making PVC hoop houses for my plants, and if it even looks like hail or severe weather, I drop plastic/tarps over the plants to protect them.
As for regrowth… If the rootball was healthy, the plants can start producing more leaves at the nodes, but some plants likely wont make it. Higher N and K fertilizers (9-1.5-7 NPK Ratio vegetable growth) will help promote more leaves
so im not going to laugh like some, you already know its a mess. save as many of the branches as you can. the sun is going to get in all the cracks for sure now and its going to grow enless the plants just drop and die. the more you keep of them the better your chances. if a stem is really that crushed then dump it. sorry about your weather we had a cold spell and i waited a extra 10 days. wish u the best
What’s the plant equivalent of a blood bath?