Hail Netting 1 - Hail 0

Only in Colorado can you have a 101 degree day and then have the ground covered in ice at the end of the day.  About 1 hour ago I saw flash of light at a rate of about once per 2 seconds.  At first I didn't know what it was but then I looked out the window to the north and could see green colored clouds moving very quickly towards me.  It was a wall of clouds that were massive and I knew it was going to be trouble.  I know better than anyone else what a massive hail storm will do to a pumpkin patch more or less a house.

Within minutes the winds increased incredibly.  Only one other time do a remember the winds that strong.  Looking from a second story window towards the pumpkin patch I could see my hoop house to the side of the pumpkin patch had its plastic shredded.   I've had hoop houses in 50 mph winds and never had a problem.  This is 6 mil plastic so I'm not sure how fast the wind was going but I wouldn't be surprised if it was around 100mph or more.

Then the rains came and it was a downpour.  Within seconds after that the hail started.  At first it was dime sized and then some quarter sized hail started coming down.   The nail never came down super hard which is the only reason anything survived.  About 20 minutes later it stopped and at about 30 minutes the skies were mostly clear. 

I went out and checked the plants.  Both of my kids plants have a fair amount of holes, but the plants weren't shredded like I would have guessed they would be.  Vine tips seemed to still be in place and the female on my daughters plant that will be opening tomorrow seemed to be fine.  I put a chair over it a couple of days ago so I'm sure that helped save it. 

My plants surprisingly did well.  I knew that they wouldn't be in horrible shape because I could see the hail netting was protecting the plants for the most part.  I was concerned that the 335 Scherber plant would be beat up on the north side where the hail had blown under the netting.  It was dark and hard to see well but it looked like the vine tips were still in place for the side vines.  There was definitely holes in the leaves, but not bad. 

The 1791, considering the force of the storm, was hardly damaged.  It is on the south side of the patch so it was the most protected under the netting.  Some of the leaves on the west side had some holes in them but all considering I feel pretty blessed that there wasn't more damage.