Hail Storm

[Watto]

Last Thursday there was a hail storm in our area. Hail and bonsai are not compatible and usually there is only one winner. There was some damage to a few of my bonsai but nothing critical, but I did do a 'run' during the worst of the hail to rescue one of my little darlings, something only mad bonsai people do!
One funny thing was a group planting that had pit marks in the moss so I thought you might be interested.

[Keels]

My worst nightmare... A hailstorm. Brave man for making a dash to save your trees. How big was the hail? I heard Sydney had some big ones too.

[Watto]

More like silly man, the hail started off small nut soon got to about golf ball size.

[Promethius]

You could think of them as ‘speed holes,’ if it helps. Very classy, highly sought after in some circles.
Or perhaps you can incorporate an astronaut figurine to fit with a meteorite impact crater scene?

[Sno]

So which one is the one that you risked it all for ? I know when it happens up here I run around like a mad chook chucking trees under tables and screaming like a banshee at the sky . Luckily I live on acreage other wise my neighbours would ring the cops .
Each time it happens I promise myself to make a proper bench with hail netting . One day .

[TimS]

I feel the pain! A few weeks back i had decent hail at my house, fortunately while I was home, and I sprinted outside to bring trees under the patio to protect them and that was from much smaller hail than you got!

[Watto]

I have a hawthorn that has pink flowers and it has a thousand flower buds this year (true, not joking) and I want a few photos of it so I went out and got a few bruise's for it.
I hope it was worth it! I will post a few photos when it all happens.

[Phil Rabl]

I got smashed by hail over a decade ago in Canberra. Since then I have built hail protection into my bonsai stands. There's little you can do with whopper hail, but every little bit of protection helps. Here is a photo of the weld-mesh I have on the top of my display stand. I also rollout shade cloth on top of it in summer and when hail/storms are forecast. Anything that hits the mesh will break. The shade cloth won't stop golf balls, but will stop smaller hail.

[melbrackstone]

I wondered if you'd been affected Watto, glad to see you were able to contain the damage.

Phil I have similar over some of my trees, and it does stop the worst of it. It looks like it might be another bumper season for hail, sadly.

[greg27]

Here is a photo of the weld-mesh I have on the top of my display stand. I also rollout shade cloth on top of it in summer and when hail/storms are forecast. Anything that hits the mesh will break. The shade cloth won't stop golf balls, but will stop smaller hail.

I might borrow that idea Phil. I've been meaning to add a shadecloth over my stand for summer and the weld-mesh looks like a good addition. We don't get much in the way of crazy hail in Adelaide, but a few years back so much fell in such a short time that it looked like snow.