By HEATHER BAUGHMAN

baughman@crescent-news.com

The growing season has come to a standstill.

At a time when soybeans were supposed to be growing like weeds, an extreme lack of rainfall has prevented most plants across northwest Ohio from gaining much height in the past two months. Instead of being tall, full plants, area soybeans are short and sparse.

"Soybean crops (are) struggling with the lack of rain," said Ohio State University Extension's Defiance County educator Bruce Clevenger. "I have been out in fields in the last four to five weeks and the height has not changed. ... The beans are essentially at a standstill," he said, but the pods are still filling out.

Ultimately, Clevenger said he expects yields to be lower this year by about 20 percent. If a typical crop yields 50 bushels per acre, this year's crop may yield around 40.

Greg LaBarge of the OSU Extension Office in Fulton County said, "The big thing has been the dry weather for the past month. There has been no big rainfalls since July 1. That's going to have the biggest impact.

"I think there's a little bit of pessimism because of that," he said, although "some crops (have been looking) really pretty good, even though it's been dry. Other crops have been suffering all along."

The end result: "Really, we won't know until we get out into the field."

To the south, Jim Lopshire of the Paulding County OSU Extension Office said crops there have been "hurting for water. We definitely could have used the rain a couple of weeks back." Most notably, he said the lack of rain has been "having an effect on bean crops particularly."

In one field that he has been monitoring, Lopshire said, "The beans as a whole have not gotten any taller." Measuring from late July until last week, Lopshire said the "beans are actually shorter now than they were (in July), basically due to lack of moisture. We just haven't seen that growth in soybeans that we would normally see this time of year."

Some spotty showers throughout the region have made some crops grow better than others, but the yield is yet to be determined.

As this year's crop season began, "I would have said early in the growing season that soybeans would have been a better crop. But at this point, I just don't know," Lopshire said.

While corn started out a bit slow, "Some farmers have said that their corn is going to be OK. Other farmers said the soybeans will be their poorest crop. Overall, corn may be looking better. It's just hard to get a handle (yields)," he said, noting it really depends on how much rain a farmers' field received.

The dry weather is also having an impact on corn silage.

"We're on the threshold of chopping corn silage," Clevenger said. "Typically these dry conditions will narrow the time to chop at the correct moisture," which he said is around 30-35 percent moisture for bunker silos, or around 32-38 percent moisture, for bags and upright silos.

Clevenger suggests farmers monitor their fields closely, checking fields that were planted earlier than others.

Forecasts call for corn to reach lower-than-normal yields this year. "The length of ear will be shorter," Clevenger said.

Too, he said farmers should be on the lookout for stalk rot and root rot.

"The ear will actually cannibalize nutrients out of the leaves and stalks to fill the kernels on the ear. If there is a limited source of carbohydrates on stalks and leaves, the stalk can weaken and be prone to high winds and rain," potentially causing the stalks to fall over, which can make combining difficult, Clevenger said.

"Some plant pathologists feel that, in some cases, stalk rot can have more of a yield loss than other disease," he said.

If it occurs, it will develop in the next month.

On the positive side for many farmers, the dry weather has limited disease and insect infestation.

"Dry weather brings field conditions that are not adequate for diseases," Clevenger said. "Typically, we need higher humidity for disease."

Many farmers did not have to spray for soybean aphid or Japanese or bean leaf beetle which, Clevenger noted, "keeps dollars in the pockets of the farmer."

LaBarge said, "Generally, crops were pretty clean (and only) had a little bit of insects on the soybeans." He also noted "some spider mite problems because of the dry conditions."

Lopshire said he has not really seen too many issues with insects or disease. "We were looking for some various insects and diseases, but did not see it. It could be due to the dryer conditions."

As winter wheat season gets underway, the need for rain will again become a concern.

"We'll probably need some rain to help with the emergence of wheat," Clevenger said. "Usually the fall is generous with some rain."