magnolia-cidal mulch
We have a magnolia tree (southern?) in our front yard and I was about raking up the leaves from this thing earlier today when I noticed that nothing else seemed to want to grow underneath of it, other than a few walnut saplings, some virginia creeper, and a couple leggy chicories, dandelions and thinly assorted weeds. Otherwise the soil there is bare, rich and dark. Granted, it's a pretty shady corner of our yard: a large juniper, a slippery elm, and an ornamental Japanese maple of some sort share that area. Last year I dumped the magnolia leaves at the end of the yard in a little composting area, and these still have yet to break down. Today I piled them as mulch, with some other vegetative junk, in a thin strip that lies between a fence in the front yard and the sidewalk in front of our house that currently supports nothing but weeds. I figured that being the thick waxy things that they are they'd make a fine mulch so that we'd have a clear place to plant something more desirable next year.
Then it dawned on me that the reason that nothing grows under this tree is probably because magnolia leaves have some kind alleopathic property. I know that the black walnuts do, but there are probably only four or five of them, all less than a foot tall, spread over a 200²ft area. Would anyone know if my hunch about magnolia is correct? Will this affect my ability to plant something in the mulched strip next year (assuming I remove the magnolia "mulch" prior)?
Then it dawned on me that the reason that nothing grows under this tree is probably because magnolia leaves have some kind alleopathic property. I know that the black walnuts do, but there are probably only four or five of them, all less than a foot tall, spread over a 200²ft area. Would anyone know if my hunch about magnolia is correct? Will this affect my ability to plant something in the mulched strip next year (assuming I remove the magnolia "mulch" prior)?