
DATE: Tuesday, July 15, 1997                TAG: 9707150088

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   78 lines

SPIDER MITES ARRIVE TO PLAGUE PARCHED CROPS

As if watching their crops waste away in dry fields weren't bad enough, local farmers now report an infestation of spider mites - tiny, life-sucking insects that crawl into fields, drift on the wind or hitchhike on wildlife.

With no rainfall to refresh their crops and kill the mites, many of the farmers already are calling the summer of 1997 disastrous.

Such a declaration will not be official for about another two weeks, said Melanie Shull, executive director of the Farmers Service Administration and chairman of a local agricultural committee that is keeping close tabs on the weather.

Right now, it's just dry weather. But if it continues through July, there will be no doubt that agricultural communities in South Hampton Roads will be in the middle of a drought.

``We have to wait before we can apply for any kind of disaster relief,'' Shull said. ``But . . . if we don't get some rain this week (or) next week, we'll probably have lost our corn crop.''

It takes three months of continuous dry weather for an official declaration of drought, Shull said

The dry conditions started in May, when the area got only about 2.54 inches of rain, compared to the usual 3.82 inches. In June, when normal rainfall is 4.25 inches, local fields got a 0.69-inch drip.

And, so far this month - when normal rainfall is 5.8 inches - a little more than 3 inches of rain has fallen.

In contrast, area fields last year were drenched with 9.12 inches in July.

Suffolk appears to be the hardest-hit city in South Hampton Roads. Until about two weeks ago, the Holland and Whaleyville areas were the driest in the peanut belt, a local extension agent said. On July 7, a little more than 3 inches of rain fell on Holland, but Whaleyville was left out of the shower.

The conditions, said Surry County VPI extension agent Rex Cotton, are perfect for spider mites to attack peanuts and cotton.

The insects, a bit smaller than aphids, usually live along the edges of fields and roads. When vegetation dries up in those areas, the insects move into the fields to suck the life out of crops.

Extension agents in Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Surry counties all were warning farmers last week to be on the lookout for mites.

The insects have already become a problem for some farmers in Suffolk and Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight agent Robert D. Goerger said.

They're showing up in the dry fields of Southampton County as well, extension agent Wes Alexander said.

``With continued dry weather, they will spread across the fields,'' agent Cotton said. ``The only natural cure is moisture.''

Mites have the greatest threat to peanuts and cotton, both fairly drought-resistant crops, but both planted later than usual because of a cool spring.

``Cotton is half the size it should be,'' Shull said. ``All of the crops are late.''

Dry weather could cause other insect problems later in the growing season, Shull said, but if the dry weather continues, ``Crops aren't going to mature to the stage we'll have to worry about it.''

A handful of farmers, like Jarvis Hunter in Suffolk, are combating the situation with irrigation. Hunter, who grows about 800 acres of corn, soybeans and peanuts off Whitemarsh Road, said he started irrigating a few days earlier than usual this year because of the dry weather. He's been doing it since 1981.

But the equipment is expensive; the area that can be irrigated is small. And farmers also must have irrigation ponds or another water source on their land.

``We're concentrating on the corn right now,'' Hunter said. ``We can only irrigate about 200 acres at a time. We'll move along as we have to.''

Irrigation is especially important to vegetable crops, and it's an investment that some vegetable farmers choose to make. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-PIlot

Edwin Hunter adjusts an irrigation nozzle, aiming it onto the

withering corn in the Suffolk field he works with his brother,

Jarvis Hunter. Hot, dry weather prompted them to start irrigating

earlier than usual this year, but the equipment is expensive, and

covers only about 200 acres at a time. KEYWORDS: DROUGHT