Problem: Various Pest Damage Outdoors
Symptoms: Chewed or shredded leaves, the same symptoms for insect pests.
Solution: The good news is that less than 1 percent of the millions of different insect species are considered to be serious pests. The bad news is that leaves hundreds of bad ones that you might have to worry about. That said, many of these pests attack humans and other animals rather than plants—mosquitos, flies, ticks, and bedbugs, for example. It is my experience that although all the indoor pests—including whiteflies, aphids, and spider mites—can attack your marijuana plants outdoors, such assaults are less frequent in the open environment of your backyard where there’s good air circulation, strong light, and many other plant species to attack—many far more vulnerable than tough cannabis.
Yes, deer could attack your marijuana plants if they have nothing else to eat. But if you live in a city or town and have a fenced or walled yard, this will be unlikely if they can’t see the plants to begin with. You can always use cheap chicken wire to further extend the height of your fence or wall so that even the hungriest Olympic buck will not be able to jump it. And sure, groundhogs, moles, and other subterranean mammals could chew the roots off your marijuana plants, but not if you’re growing in containers. And yes, it’s possible that a swarm of grasshoppers could descend on your plants and reduce them to stubble in a few minutes, or a squadron of Japanese beetles could get the munchies for your flowering tops and have a nice, very relaxing lunch at your expense. But if you offer your plants physical protection, this won’t happen.