NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:The North Island getting the cream of the stormy weather YET AGAIN ...
Isn't it great?
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:mind you I don't want the hail to hit here until well after the blossoms have gone and I have gone out and protected my fruit
What size hail would actually have bad effects on the fruit? Last year a hailstorm with about 8mm hail came through and hardly even affected the flowers on the tree. Mind you I have read that the western sides of NZ have a higher frequency of hail, but when hail occurs in the east there is a greater probability it will be large than there is in western areas. (that includes Canterbury?)
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Lets start a new topic on this??
What's the point? I was just interested in an approximate figure of hail diameter for when hail can damage fruit. Anyone know?
us cantabs usually get quite large hail in a big thunderstorm, id say any hail 20 mm or larger will damage fruit etc etc, id like a nice storm like back in 2002 on labour weekend remember john?
tornado in lincoln!!
Depends to a large extent on the stage of development of the fruit (ie stage of the season). At this time of year you would need fairly substantial hail to damage the flowers. But once the buds are set, pretty much any hail will cause marks on the surface of the fruit which render it unsuitable for sale. If its early in the season some fruit can recover by the time harvest comes, but even very small hail will cause pitting on the surface of most fruit when it is near maturity.
TonyT wrote:Depends to a large extent on the stage of development of the fruit (ie stage of the season). At this time of year you would need fairly substantial hail to damage the flowers. But once the buds are set, pretty much any hail will cause marks on the surface of the fruit which render it unsuitable for sale. If its early in the season some fruit can recover by the time harvest comes, but even very small hail will cause pitting on the surface of most fruit when it is near maturity.
A horticulturist?
Interesting, so would even small hail impact on freshly developing fruits?
TonyT wrote:Depends to a large extent on the stage of development of the fruit (ie stage of the season). At this time of year you would need fairly substantial hail to damage the flowers. But once the buds are set, pretty much any hail will cause marks on the surface of the fruit which render it unsuitable for sale. If its early in the season some fruit can recover by the time harvest comes, but even very small hail will cause pitting on the surface of most fruit when it is near maturity.
A horticulturist?
Interesting, so would even small hail impact on freshly developing fruits?
No, but a lot of our clients are hoticulturalists who use our forecasts, plus I did a bit of work with Applefields (many years ago now) when they were growing apples on a large scale here in Canterbury and had a lot of issues with hail damage. Small hail stones may not damage the fruit as such, in the sense that the fruit will still grow and still be edible, but even tiny stones will mark the surface so it cant be exported or sold as first grade.
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