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by Amy Beth Graves

Was the rain from the remnants of Hurricane Dennis enough to turn around some of Ohio's wilting crops?

That's one of the questions that farmers statewide are trying to answer, along with what impact insects will have on their crops. While experts had predicted soybean aphids would return this year, they were a bit surprised by how early they showed up. And the emergence of two-spotted spider mites is a threat because they have the potential to destroy a plant.

"The insect problem is much greater than it has been for years because you have the aphids and mites together," said Ron Hammond, an Ohio State University professor of entomology.

In northwestern Ohio, Jeff Meyer has been keeping a close eye on the number of aphids on his soybeans. So far, he's seeing about 40 aphids per plant -- nowhere near the threshold of 250. His parched farmland is more of a concern right now. Meyer and his brother and father grow corn, wheat and soybeans across Wood County, and he said the crops in the northern part of the county are faring better than those in the southern section.

"It's not going to be a bumper crop this year, that's for sure," Meyer of Portage said in mid-July. "The corn is just starting to tassel and we're needing rain badly."

Widely scattered showers across the state over the last couple of months have resulted in some farmers having sufficient water while their neighbors down the road are parched. Jamey Rauch of Little Hocking in southeastern Ohio said he needs just a bit more rain to pull out a decent crop.

"If we get all the rain we need, we'll have a pretty good crop. I've got a good-looking, even crop," said Rauch who grows corn, soybeans, alfalfa and wheat. Rauch is a regular contributor to Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's "Producer Perspective," found on the front of the organization's Web site.

Roger Snyder of Delta in northwest Ohio feels fortunate that he bought crop insurance this year. The 51-year-old who grows corn, soybeans and wheat said this was the first time he ever bought it.

"It's been really dry. I haven't had two inches of rain in the last six weeks," a frustrated Snyder said July 14. "Some of the crops are already too far gone for any rain to help."

The cold snap in late spring forced Snyder to replant almost 20 percent of his corn -- more than he's ever replanted before. He said some of the corn planted in April isn't even knee high and that the corn about 20 miles to the south is in good shape.

"We're looking at a very mixed picture for the corn crop in Ohio," said Peter Thomison, an Extension agronomist and OSU professor. "Some of the corn is so stressed that it is starting to look like pineapples."

Nationwide, farmers are expected to harvest 1 billion less bushels of corn than last year's record 11.8 billion bushels, despite the largest planting of corn in 20 years. In Illinois, which has been hit with a drought across most of the state, 55 percent of the corn was in poor or very poor condition as of July 18 while 23 percent of Ohio's corn was rated poor or very poor, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

If some of the counties stay hot and dry, the corn's pollination will be affected, Thomison said. That could result in a poor kernel set, meaning the corn would have a normal cob but only a few scattered kernels.

"It's very unusual for that to happen in Ohio but some of the fields might be approaching that state," he said.

Another concern this year is lodged corn, which can be caused by several things such as poor root system or corn rootworm, Thomison said.

"The only way to determine what's causing the problem is to dig up the plant and examine it. You've got to look at the roots," he said.

Farmers need to be vigilant in combing their fields for insects to determine if they need to spray, Hammond said. He said the aphids will probably be more numerous in August and the spider mites could become more of a problem if dry and hot conditions continue. Experts also have been getting several reports about large numbers of potato leafhoppers in alfalfa, Hammond said.

But not all crops are in trouble. Snyder said he had an excellent wheat crop, a sentiment shared by Rauch. The U.S. wheat crop is expected to be strong this year with production projected at 2.2 billion bushels, up from 2.15 billion bushels last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

"It's the same old story every year – you've got failures and successes. I'm glad we don't have the (soybean) rust situation. That's one less thing to be concerned about right now," Rauch said.