Curious about allelopathy

[Celly Rasbora]

I first learned about it with my magnolia tree in the backyard. I don’t remember exactly how I found out about it, but perhaps I googled why things didn’t grow under magnolia trees. (The answer being there’s a substance in the leaves that retards the growth of other plants.) 

And then I saw one of Cory’s live streams where somebody kept spamming the chat with his question, What about allelopathy?

Since then, I have seen descriptions of plants mention this characteristic, dwarf sagittaria, for instance. 

So my question is, should this be a worry? I keep going back to the spammer’s refrain, What about allelopathy? Will dwarf sagitarria hurt my anubias?

 

[Fish Folk]

7 minutes ago, Celly Rasbora said:

I first learned about it with my magnolia tree in the backyard. I don’t remember exactly how I found out about it, but perhaps I googled why things didn’t grow under magnolia trees. (The answer being there’s a substance in the leaves that retards the growth of other plants.) 

And then I saw one of Cory’s live streams where somebody kept spamming the chat with his question, What about allelopathy?

Since then, I have seen descriptions of plants mention this characteristic, dwarf sagittaria, for instance. 

So my question is, should this be a worry? I keep going back to the spammer’s refrain, What about allelopathy? Will dwarf sagitarria hurt my anubias?

 

 Here is a short write-up. And a longer article here. Worth studying . . . but also probably not something to be too terribly distressed by.

[Celly Rasbora]

@Fish Folkhave you ever seen the barren wasteland under a magnolia tree? I think it’s the reason why I worry. Those were interesting articles. I am fascinated by just how little is known about it. 

[Fish Folk]

24 minutes ago, Celly Rasbora said:

@Fish Folkhave you ever seen the barren wasteland under a magnolia tree? I think it’s the reason why I worry. Those were interesting articles. I am fascinated by just how little is known about it. 

I can't say that I've ever stopped to examine the Magnolia Tree wasteland before. But if this can help explain why I can never see to grow Scarlet Temple in any tank I've tried it, I'm all ears 😅

[OnlyGenusCaps]

I feel like the is a relevant preface to this: I am a plant ecologist.  Allelopathy is real, but people often rush to this with little or no proof.  There are myriad other things that can cause similar patterns.  Yes, in some cases we know it occurs.  But, it is way less common than people want it to be.  The simple reason being it is expensive for plants to exude compounds that can inhibit the growth of competitors, especially when it could impact their own progeny.  In short, I wouldn't worry about it in general. 

[gardenman]

I wonder if that's why my jungle Val all melted when I added a Madagascar Lace plant? Granted, Val doesn't really need a reason to melt. It just does it sometimes, but the timing was interesting. Within days of adding the Madagascar Lace Plant the jungle Val was gone. And there was a lot of jungle Val. Hmm... perhaps I should look around at planted tank photos and see if anyone is growing both in the same tank.