AusBonsai

I hope all you fellows in melbourne have missed the severe storms and hail down there.
stay safe
chris

Gday Chris!

I can't speak for anybody else, but here in Hurstbridge we copped it pretty hard. My car is pockmarked, my ManShed flooded, and I have a badly sprained finger from madly shovelling piles of hailstones. I haven't had the chance to check my trees yet, as I was digging drainage trenches for a neighbour until dark last night. If the in-ground, full-size trees in my yard are anything to go by, I reckon I might be starting my ex-Bonsai collection from scratch.
At least my family and health are mostly intact. I hope everybody else fared better.

I'll do a full damage report when (if?) the weather clears this morning.

Peace!

Bri.

[EDIT: Just ran a cursory eye over my little trees, and it looks as though the hailstones (some as big as ping pong balls!) somehow didn't do as much damage as I had expected. This might be just the motivation I needed to do mid-Summer prune... [/EDIT]

Holy Crap!
Looks like snow!, Hope all you guys are OK and the trees did not get beaten to death

Ken

Far out Fly, hopefully not to much damage done to the little trees.

It looks like it could have been a nice white xmas if it wasnt so destructive.

well,..

i was at work in the northern subs in the arvo, when i saw the storm go pass us then made a u and bombarded us with its fury!!!
at first i was worried about my wife and daughter at my in laws so rung and they were ok. their street was flooded and a guy decided to rock out his his kayak and go up and down their street!! lol

my wife actually thought about my little trees and say she would be willing to drive home to try and save a few if i liked i said to not bother as by that time it was hailing pretty badly !! hows that for support from the missus??

i have not assessed the damaged as yet this morning as i just got up and looking after my daughter. hence, i am typing without capitals etc lol-one hand does not help.

thanks santa for the freaking white christmas pal...

I am the south-east. There was no hail storm.

But the heat of 24th might have killed one of my white pines --this is the first white pine of mine! It looks in a very bad shape.

Bri, good luck with your tree.

Regards.

Here is a sample of the hail that fell in Research, not too far from Mr. Fly. It caused a lot of damage (but not to my bonsais, they're in another suberb). On the ground in the background are the leaves of a Golden Ash that was almost entirely defoliated. Most of the hail was the size of the smaller stone pictured, the larger stone is slightly larger than a golf ball.

I have had a few people contact me(thanks for your concern), apparently Taylors Lakes was one of the worst hit areas.
The biggest hailstones I have ever seen but I have not been able to find any evidence at all. I guess I was lucky.

I am glad to hear you guys and your families are all ok, and the hail hasn't devistated your bonsai collections.

chris

Hi all
Things were not much better in Bundoora.
Here's a few pic's. My plants came out pretty well as I have the shade cloth over them.
Plants that weren't covered took a beating. Leaves shredded, branches torn off.
As for my car, it's full of hail dents. As it's over 10 years old, I think that my insurance company will probably want to write it off!
Not the best of christmas presents, but it could have been worse!

My collection came out good considering we were hit pretty hard

Mainly leaves shredded by the hail but nothing major. Spewing as I had some nice canopies going on some
Ah well, at least they will recover from it all

Cheers.

Hi all
A few more photo's of damage.