I touched on this just briefly in the last post but one of the final reasons I believe dog fennel is an important species is because of the type of biomass it provides for the soil. If you look at the stem of dog fennel its dang near like a small tree sapling. There are very few…..if any….of the other early successional species that provides the system with this type of woody biomass. I think its this type of biomass that likely helps to transition the soil conditions onto the next level by bringing in a fungal component that the other plant species likely don’t do.
I think that one of the reasons folks dislike it so much is its tendency to dominate their food plots during the summer. I think much of this though is due to our over use of nitrogen and the excess amount that’s present in the soil. If a more balanced approach is taken I believe that dog fennel wouldn’t be nearly as aggressive and it would be more like the "foundation pillars" I described in the last post…..with one here and there across the field allowing room for the other species to grow underneath it. I think it’s a misunderstood species that’s hated without really any knowledge of its true role. This is just one person’s opinion so take it with a grain of salt.
