Plant Treachery - Don't trust mangoes,lychees,passionfruit and strawberry guava

[Mike T]

I mentioned Allelopathy in another thread and thought it is worth talking about as an issue. The word has been around for 160 years or so and it relates to plants acting badly towards their neighbours. Some plants wilfully engage in chemical warfare to poison other plants, inhibit germination, ruin the soil and soil organisms for other plants (and this can last years). They can use their roots to stretch out and do the dirty work and it can be in their leaves and plants can even switch up or down the production rate depending on how much the individual is willing to invest.
Ever had a spot where nothing grows and you cant figure out why? Sometimes its because an allelopathic plants messed up the spot a long while ago. So which are these anti-social plants? Invasive weeds use this strategy to dominate with lantana a prime example and trees like Black Walnut are famous for it. Rice and peas also engage in this kinda behaviour. But what about fruit trees?

https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajps.2013.252.261
There is plenty of evidence and a growing list of problematic plants. Extracts from some fruit tree leaves can actually be used like herbicides. Mangoes ,lychees, passionfruit and strawberry/cherry guavas have all been implicated and had the finger pointed at them.
So what does this mean for the home garden? Should we keep other plants distant from these? I think the jury is out.

[Frog Valley Farm]

No news here.

[Mike T]

That is true the plants actively send out roots to find competitors and drop masses of leaves wilfully and up production of phytochemicals on cue. Only a couple of hundred Eucalypts behave this way. In revegetation failure is often attributed to selecting wrong native species in mixes with in my area Acacias,hop bushes and grevilleas knocking out other plants and deflecting succession. Many fruiting plants don't want competition especially for light and even the seemingly benign beach almost messes with plant companions.It is the law of the jungle.

[TheGivingTree]

Besides barnyard grass, which ground covers have you guys been successful with?

[New_Jungle]

This is well known in coral reef and planted aquariums as well as alleopathic chemicals are more easily transmissible through water and the confines of an aquarium really concentrate things. All an evolutionary arms race to find a way to thrive while inhibiting others.