If you were a boll weevil in South Texas in 1996, it was a very dangerous place to be.
It will be even tougher in 1997.
The population of the boll weevil -- South Texas' biggest cotton crop pest -- was reduced last summer in the first effort by landowners and cotton producers in the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation's massive poison treatment program.
Now the 33-county, 500,000-acre treatment zone is gearing up for its second round of insecticide spraying and first full year of weevil eradication under a $21.75 million annual program. To finance the program, landowners and growers will be assessed a fee of $23.14 per acre of planted cotton in 1997, up from $11.50 an acre in 1996.
The zone stretch from Kinney and Uvalde counties on the west to Duval and Kleberg counties on the south, and to Brazoria and Fort Bend counties on the east. Poisoning will run much longer, from March when cotton stalks begin to grow, until the harvest in September.
The number of treatments is determined by the number of weevils captured in special traps placed in cotton fields. Any field with an average of two weevils per trap must be treated repeatedly, either by aerial spraying or at ground level, to stamp out the insects as they emerge from winter hibernation and begin laying eggs and feeding on young cotton buds and blooms.
"A lot more trucks, people and traps will be seen this year and we will have more activity as we reach our treatment peak," said Teresa Eliason, information officer of the Abilene-based eradication foundation.
"It will be our first full season of spraying and the number of treatments will depend on the trap triggers (weevil trap capture counts)."
She said each of the zone's seven districts will see its staff increased from four or five people to an average of 50 per district beginning this spring.
Eliason said foundation officials are hoping the South Texas/Winter Garden zone can duplicate the success of the Southern Rolling Plains in the San Angelo area, where the boll weevil population has been reduced by 98 percent after two years.
Cotton producers in the Southern Rolling Plains zone have cut chemical spraying in half, while dry-land crop yields have increased by an average of 21 percent and irrigated crop yields have risen 42 percent, she said.
Farmers won't be able to gauge the success of the South Texas program until the spring when surviving weevils start to appear.
Cotton farmers will have a choice this year of treating their own cotton fields or letting the foundation do it.
Growers who opt to spray on their own can receive a rebate of $2.50 per treated acre, up to three treatments, not to exceed $7.50 an acre. A list of the insecticides effective against the boll weevil are available from any county agricultural extension agency. Malathion ULV is the preferred chemical poison.
Growers can reduce the amount of the $23.14 per acre assessment fee by applying the treatments themselves.
"I'm glad I'll have the option," said Ronnie Klostermann, a Nueces County farmer. "By spraying my own fields I can have better control over how it's done."
Thomas Mengers of Tynan who farms in San Patricio and Bee counties, said: "I'm considering letting the foundation spray our fields entirely. They did a good job on the (late summer) applications last year and if a field triggers, we still have the option of doing our own over-winter treatments and receive reimbursements for them."
James Jakuvec of Rosenberg in Brazoria County, said last year's treatment program took a big step toward wiping out weevils on his farm.
"There was one field in particular standing late in the season that still had bolls on it," Jakuvec said. "All of the (remaining) weevils should have gone to that field. I checked it myself and didn't find one weevil there. That really sold me."
Wil Baucom, an eradication foundation district supervisor at Sinton, said last year's initial treatment "was very effective and the boll weevil is on its last leg. We really knocked the weevil numbers down."
Baucom supervises about 100,000 acres of planted cotton in San Patricio, Aransas, Bee and Live Oak counties where 240 traps were used to sample the weevil population before and after treatments.
He said traps caught an average of 118 weevils in March as heavy concentrations of the pests emerged from winter hibernation to an average of 29 in August after the spraying, then 16 in September, 11 in October and two in November.
"I feel confident our zone will enjoy a high level of success as we progress," Baucom said. "Hopefully we can match the Southern Rolling Plains eradication of 95 percent or more."
Stephan Mock, district supervisor at Robstown for Nueces and northern Jim Wells counties, said the weevil count fell from an average of 12 bugs per trap in early July before the spraying, to an average of one to two weevils sampled in August.
"Many growers told me they didn't notice near as many weevils, very few if any," Mock said.
"I think we had a good kill and the majority of the growers are happy with the program."
Boll weevil eradication programs have worked in several states including California, Arizona, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina where the weevils have been eliminated.
The Texas foundation is hosting district grower meetings in January to inform farmers and landowner of changes in this year's program. Program directors will be present to answer questions. The meeting in Robstown was Jan. 21 and the one in Sinton is Wednesday.
Carl Anderson, Texas Agricultural Extension Service economist for cotton marketing, said uncertain cotton acreage and the potential for increased exports and fewer imports are expected to provide some support for prices in 1997.
"Because of uncertain acreage, December '97 futures may climb to around the 80-cent (per pound) level this spring. But farm prices could decline to 60 cents next spring if crop yields are average or better," Anderson said.
"Pricing your cotton in the vicinity of 75 cents and up appears reasonable."