Despite the dire warning of Alighieri Dante, there does appear to be some hope after a massive hailstorm hit on the afternoon of June 3rd. I was on the road, returning from a delivery of about 800 seedlings to several locations in Wayne and Garfield counties, Utah.
The hail was mostly melted by the time I returned, but the damage was extensive. Young pepper seedlings were essentially shredded. An assessment of 799 seedlings in the tomato patch after the hailstorm yielded:
799 – damaged by hail
216 – “Weak”: significant damage, small, and/or apical meristem broken off – will likely recover, barring further damage or disease
29 – “Very weak”: severely damaged and/or very small – will likely die or never fully recover
9 – “Stump only”: all leaves stripped off, some possibility of new growth from below surface
18 – DEAD: no live tissue left
There has also been some damping off and possible bacterial wilt among transplanted seedlings. On at least 8 different days in June, I’ve replaced dead tomato plants. As of today, June 30th, I’ve replaced 49 tomato plants that died.
Of these 49, 13 were replaced with the same variety, 35 with a different variety. Among those 35, 31 replacements resulted in only one vine of that particular variety remaining, while for 4 varieties, replacement resulted in ZERO seedlings remaining for the 2023 growing season.
Initial transplanting of tomato seedlings (before mortality) was essentially completed on June 2nd, a full 6 weeks ahead of last year! But the month of June has been relatively cool. This, along with significant overwatering initially, has resulted in fairly slow growth.
However, temperatures have reached into the 80’s the past week, and growth is starting to pick up.
I’m attempting to take a photo and a video of the patch every Monday. Here is the latest video tour, walking down the middle of the patch.
[More to come]
Delectation of Tomatoes, etc. 