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What do you do if your plants were damaged by hail? Omaha expert offers tips to save them

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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Many people are noticing damage to their plants because of the hail on Tuesday night.

3 News Now spoke to an expert at the Nebraska Extension office, who said hail usually causes tearing and shredding of plants. This is especially the case with leaves and the bigger the leaf, the greater the damage. There may also be bruising visible later on.

Urban ag educator, John Porter says prevention might not be possible.

"Well, the only way to prevent it is to live somewhere without hail storms. Basically, you just have to be prepared to go out and assess your plants, do some management," said Porter.

He says to consider pruning if there's more damage, but if a lot of the leaf is intact he recommends leaving it so the plant can produce more energy to re-grow.

In some cases, you may lose the whole plant, but Porter says it's not too late to re-plant.

You may also want to check in a few weeks to see if anything has died from bruising.

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