By Clint Thompson
Deer continue to impact South Georgia’s cotton crop. It’s led to University of Georgia research studying the impact of repellents in deterring deer.
Camp Hand, UGA Extension cotton agronomist, talked about the research at the UGA Cotton and Peanut Research Field Day.
“We’ve done the research on farm to document what is being lost. What we’re moving towards is optimizing the use of these repellents. I’ve seen them work. I’ve used them in the past,” Hand said. “But the thing is, they’re pretty expensive in and of themselves. They’re $10 to $15 an acre right out of the gate. We’re looking at how to optimize the use of a deer repellent.
“In many cases, it means throwing it in the tank with something else, right? So that’s one thing we’re looking at is tank mixtures that include some of these deer repellents just to see if there’s any adverse impacts on the crop itself, growth, development; all of that.”
Hand is also looking at termination timing of the repellents. When can growers stop spraying the repellents and still maximize yield and quality with respect to deer damage?
How Bad Is It?
Just how bad are deer in some of the cotton-producing areas in South Georgia? It is rather significant.
“There’s dryland cotton that’s in Berrien County where it made 650 to 700 pounds. And then outside the cage where we protected the cotton for the whole year, it was 15 pounds to the acre. I mean it’s a 99% loss in that particular situation,” Hand said. “Of course, it’s going to be worse on edges and stuff. We know where it’s going to be bad. If I pull up to a 7-acre field that’s surrounded by woods and it’s pretty thick, I mean, you’re in a situation right there where you’re going to have to fight them.”
Hand reminds growers that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources implemented Oct. 3-4 as an antlerless only weekend where firearms can be used, though it is still bow season.