Plant Succession in a Forest

This Q&A is pulled from a collection of questions posed to me by students of my Online Permaculture Design Course (PDC). Learn more with my free four-part Masterclass series, here:

Question:

How can I tell the difference between a plant element that is advancing the succession when I chop and drop and a plant that is one of the problems I need to try and get ahead of?

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[b_uppy]

Knew about allelopathy, knew a lot about bamboo. Didn't know some bamboos were allelopathic. Thank you for this bit of extra info.

[joecrablone]

Camphor as a medium grows oyster mushrooms really well - suddenly its vigor becomes an asset!

[LukeJames]

Camphor forest reverts very quickly to native rainforest when you inject the camphors with glyphosate. You can also plant strangler figs in camphors and the fig tree will eventually take over.

[BrunoGarcia]

i use canfora oil in alcool a lot in for muscle sores almost every week

[XxMadz]

Camphor wax is fantastic in homemade balms or cooling gels due to the natural ‘methanol’-like properties of it :)

[peterellis]

I don't really understand the focus on allelopathy here. It doesn't seem to be related to the question at all?

[StefanSobkowiak]

Geoff you mention it’s a reseeding inhibitor, will it equally inhibit growth of established trees? I’m thinking of how it would work as a mulch under well established fruit trees and would it inhibit their growth and fruiting?

[JeremyChevallier]

Do you think or know that bamboo planted around a perimeter can kill Bermuda grass within a landscape? How far from the bamboo will the allelopathic effects take place?

[emmanuelramirez]

Dear mr Lawton - what is your opinion on emptied coconut husks as material for building houses dams or walls? Is there any special machine that could break these into smaller and manageable fibers.?? Thank yu

[juglore]

The question in the description doesn't match. The question from the description is from last week.

[yLeprechaun]

Didn't really answer the question. :(