Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Deer browsing on commercially-grown hybrid poplar seedlings can inflict heavy damage to trees and reduce economic returns by deforming and/or stunting the growth of trees. A field trial was initiated on a 7,050 ha hybrid poplar plantation to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical barrier (Vexar tubing), a topical repellent (Plantskydd), a systemic repellent (SeO2), and a less-palatable clone in reducing deer browse damage. The trial was conducted during the 1999 growing season in a recently harvested and replanted 6 ha unit. The four treatments were arranged along with a control in a randomized block design, with five blocks randomly arranged near the edge of the harvest unit where deer activity was concentrated. Terminal browse damage was assessed at two week intervals over a ten week period. Relatively little browsing occurred in any of the treatments during the first four weeks following planting. Vexar tubing provided superior protection (P<0.05) for seedlings at 6, 8, and 10 weeks following planting compared to all other treatments. The clonal treatment was browsed less (P<0.05) than the Plantskydd, selenium, and control treatments over the ten week evaluation period. However, overall growth rates for this clone were lower (P<0.05) than all other treatments, suggesting that this particular clone would not be beneficial from a fiber production standpoint. The results of this study suggest that Vexar tubing is an effective method of controlling deer browse damage to hybrid poplar seedlings. Use of genetically-resistant clones may provide some browse protection. However, growth rates of the clone tested did not perform well enough to consider using this clone on an operational basis.