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Dept. Forestry and Natural Resources
715 W. State Street
W. Lafayette, IN 47907
(765) 494-3590
FAX: (765) 494-9461
Project
Partners
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White-tailed
Deer - Corn (back to white-tailed
deer home)
Vegetative
Growth and Tassel
At emergence (VE) plants are susceptible
to both trampling and feeding damage.
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Entire plants may be pulled from the ground, especially
in loose or moist soils. As long
as the growing point is undamaged, the plant will continue to develop;
from VE to V5, the growing point is below the soil surface. The plant
characteristics at the point of damage will usually have
a rough appearance since deer lack upper incisors. (top
of page)
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Throughout the remaining vegetative growth
stages (V6 until prior to tassel), deer may browse leaves
of corn. Deer damage during this period, however, often
is a complete bite of the stalk below the tassel and at the
center of the growth whorl. (top of page)
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Deer also may bite off the tassel later in
development. Damage to ears early during their
development
will result in a telescoping husk as they mature. Feeding
on young ears late during vegetative growth (V12 to
V15) will result in almost 100% loss of yield for that plant.
(top of page)
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Reproductive
Growth
During reproductive stages of development,
deer damage to corn is concentrated during the silk stage
(R1), milk
stage (R3), and maturity (R6). During the silk stage, deer
bite the tender, succulent corn silks. The impact on yield
from the removal of the corn silks will depend on the timing
of damage relative to pollination.
Damage occurring prior to the pollination of all silks will impact
yield. This is usually the case with damage of this type since the
silks dry out after pollination of the kernels. (top
of page) |
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Deer may bite off the end of an ear,
or ... |
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...completely pull the entire
ear from the plant. Biting the tip of an ear off after
pollination is completed results in minimal yield loss.
(top
of page)
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Deer often remove kernels by using their lower
incisors to scrape an ear along its length. |
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Deer can knock down stalks of corn. Signs
of deer damage include a small number of stalks (usually
12 or
less) knocked down, and all lying in the same direction. Damage
of this type is usually caused by deer running through the
area rather than their actual feeding behavior.
Deer bedding in cornfields results in a few or no corn stalks
knocked down. Areas with a large number
of stalks knocked down are caused by raccoons and
not by deer bedding down. (top of page)
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Deer feed on corn sparingly after the milk
stage until the crop matures. Stalks are more easily knocked
down during this period and deer will feed readily on kernels
on the cob and those on the ground. While stalks are on the
ground (whether or not deer knocked them down) deer may scrape
the ear along its length using its bottom incisors. At maturity,
some corn plants have reddening of leaves and/or the stalk.
(top of page)
Red stalks can be a clue to past wildlife damage, but not
all corn plants with red stalks and/or leaves are caused
by wildlife damage. Feeding at the stalk node by European
corn
borers also can result in reddening of the attached leaf
at the location of damage (Nielsen
2002).
Corn plants with purple-colored stalks in August –September
often are indicative of damage caused by deer. Deer will
readily scrape kernels off the cobs of mature corn plants,
generally causing little or no physical damage to the corn
stalk. Removal of kernels after maturity results in red cobs.
Damage caused earlier in the growing season results in dirty
brown cobs. |
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