Point of clarification: organic matter doesn’t really retain the nutrients but acts as the slowly mineralized pool of nutrients associated with soil quality.
The way you describe it is similar to how a sponge works rather than a storehouse.
You are right, though, in that you don’t need to fertilize trees for the most part. Forest soils are hilariously low in nutrients: TOC is around 1% and N is next to non existent (N is highly labile), while P and K are moderate to high. As a result, forests veg is most competitive in nutrient poor conditions. If you fertilize a disturbed area, you get a pile of weeds and grass that can set back your revegetation timeline because your desirable woody spp now have to out-compete them. This process still happens if you don’t fertilize, but it’s generally less pronounced and allows some woody plants to gain the foothold they need
Not bunk, but not an evolutionary strategy, I imagine. Leaves are dropped because they are too hard to maintain, rather than the benefit the trees get from mulching out competition.
I’m not directly aware of any trees that do that, but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if that was true for at least one species.
Most trees that drop seeds have methods of getting them away from the parent tree. Maple trees have little helicopter twirlies, oak trees have animals carry them off, some trees grow new ones from their roots called suckers.
I’ll try to look it up later because now I’m curious. I’ll update here if I find anything interesting about trees dropping leaves to prevent new ones growing too close.
I don’t think my arborist textbook said anything about that specifically, but I’ll double check there first.
Some trees do a bit, I guess? Like, beech trees will release some chemicals to inhibit other plant growth, and iirc their leaves do that as they decompose, as well as the root system itself. But depends on the plant and mostly bunk I believe.
Point of clarification: organic matter doesn’t really retain the nutrients but acts as the slowly mineralized pool of nutrients associated with soil quality.
The way you describe it is similar to how a sponge works rather than a storehouse.
You are right, though, in that you don’t need to fertilize trees for the most part. Forest soils are hilariously low in nutrients: TOC is around 1% and N is next to non existent (N is highly labile), while P and K are moderate to high. As a result, forests veg is most competitive in nutrient poor conditions. If you fertilize a disturbed area, you get a pile of weeds and grass that can set back your revegetation timeline because your desirable woody spp now have to out-compete them. This process still happens if you don’t fertilize, but it’s generally less pronounced and allows some woody plants to gain the foothold they need
I read a while ago that trees attempt to reduce competition by dropping their leaves to prevent saplings growing too near. Was that all bunk?
Not bunk, but not an evolutionary strategy, I imagine. Leaves are dropped because they are too hard to maintain, rather than the benefit the trees get from mulching out competition.
I’m not directly aware of any trees that do that, but it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if that was true for at least one species.
Most trees that drop seeds have methods of getting them away from the parent tree. Maple trees have little helicopter twirlies, oak trees have animals carry them off, some trees grow new ones from their roots called suckers.
I’ll try to look it up later because now I’m curious. I’ll update here if I find anything interesting about trees dropping leaves to prevent new ones growing too close.
I don’t think my arborist textbook said anything about that specifically, but I’ll double check there first.
Thanks!
Some trees do a bit, I guess? Like, beech trees will release some chemicals to inhibit other plant growth, and iirc their leaves do that as they decompose, as well as the root system itself. But depends on the plant and mostly bunk I believe.
Thanks