Invasive plants alter soil abiotic and biotic properties, generating persistent soil legacies that limit native plant recovery and reshape community composition. However, how management interventions interact with these legacy effects on native plant communities remains poorly understood, hindering targeted restoration strategies. We used Solidago canadensis as the target invader and established five field soil-conditioning treatments: non-invasion (Solidago-absent), invasion (Solidago-present) and three management methods (cutting, herbicide or burning). Soils were analysed for nutrient and fungal diversity and then used in a greenhouse experiment to test the responses of native plant communities composed of grasses and forbs. Solidago canadensis invasion reduced soil total carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus, but increased fungal pathogen and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus richness, resulting in lower native community biomass and higher biomass ratio of grasses to forbs. Cutting had negligible effects, whereas herbicide and burning partially restored nutrients and mitigated negative legacy effects on community biomass, albeit often at the cost of reduced community evenness. Nitrate nitrogen and pathogen richness were key drivers of soil legacy effects on native plant communities: higher nitrate nitrogen promoted native community biomass, whereas higher pathogen richness reduced native community biomass and evenness and increased the biomass ratio of grasses to forbs. Management effects, particularly those from herbicide, depended on their ability to increase nitrate nitrogen and reduce pathogen accumulation, with herbicide showing the strongest productivity recovery but some trade-offs in community composition. Synthesis and applications. Our findings reveal that soil legacy effects created by invasive plants constrain native community restoration by depleting nutrients and increasing pathogen pressure, with management interventions producing method-specific effects on these outcomes. Effective restoration requires addressing both nutrient depletion and pathogen accumulation through technology such as nutrient amendments, organic inputs, soil inoculation or targeted pathogen suppression, which can complement conventional approaches such as herbicide application or burning by alleviating belowground constraints.
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