Corn seedlings often turn yellow (due to low nitrogen uptake and/or limited chlorophyll synthesis) or purple (reduced root development and/or increased anthocyanin production) under cool, wet conditions. Some hybrids are more likely to increase anthocyanin (purple pigment) content when plants are cool. Yellowing or purpling of corn plants at this stage of development generally has little or no effect on later crop performance or yield potential.

Both southern and common rust have been confirmed in multiple corn fields across the state, but as is usually the case in Ohio, the latter is much more wide-spread than the former, and most of the affected fields are in the southern half of the state. Southern rust is characterized by the presence of small, circular, light orangish pustules predominantly on the upper surface of the leaves, whereas common rust produces larger, more elongated, and darker (cinnamon-brown) pustules on both leaf surfaces.