Along with vegetable plants, hostas and daylilies, there is a new plant, now legal to grow and harvest in Ohio, that is also attractive to the state's largest herbivore.
Cannabis is a tender, nutritious supplement for deer. It contains fiber, protein and moisture, especially in its early vegetative stage, according to California-based North Habitat Wildlife Conservation. Young plants resemble many of the other tender greens deer naturally seek, but also emit a distinctive and intriguing scent, even when growing in a pot or surrounded by other plants.
Ohio law allows people to grow up to six plants indoors or outside (12 per household). If outdoors, cannabis plants must be in an enclosed or fenced area and not be visible to the public.
"The home growing is huge," said Stephen Harrold, manager of Indoor Gardens in Clintonville. "Literally, the day the (cannabis) vote passed, people have been walking into our store — from the 18-year-old kid to the 75-year-old couple — waiting their whole lives to do this."
So, home growers finding a new plant stripped of its leaves can be disheartening.
"Some of the pheromones of the leaves can be attractive to animals that eat leafy greens," Harrold said. "And the roots get dug up by rodents or ground critters attracted to the organic byproducts in the fertilizer, such as bone, blood and kelp meal.
Worthington's website includes a list of deer-resistant plants along with those that deer will devour. It also provides deer deterrent methods and tips to keep deer out of your yard. Cannabis is not mentioned. And city officials say they were not aware of the plant's attractiveness to deer.
City Folk's Farm Shop, a few miles south of Worthington on North High Street, sells Elevated, a cannabis-exclusive potting mix, Paisley Nash-Dooley said.
"It's got lots of supplements. Cannabis is a high feeder."
In a blog post entitled "Do Deer Eat Weed?" Pennsylvania-based animal repellent company Nature's Mace, describes the "highness" of cannabis foliage to deer as "unpleasant and different from what humans feel."
"Vets say that eating a large amount of marijuana may result in symptoms such as pupil dilation, dribbling urine, inability to walk, and low body temperature," the website states.
Locally, Ohio Earth Food distributes Elevated, whose label pictures a farmer inspecting a towering cannabis plant.
"It grows amazing cannabis," said Ted Stutz, whose childhood friend designed the logo.
Because of its relative novelty, people can become closely connected to their marijuana plants, Harrold said. Especially given its "precise window to plant and harvest."
"It's a living thing. And it's going to bring joy to you. Deer can do enough damage to ruin any crop you're growing. They can destroy enough leaves to basically kill the plant off."
"If you have a deer eat your plant in June, then you're not going to harvest it in July."
