Cedar mulch

[4wanderingeyes]

Will cedar mulch be ok to put around apple trees, or could that cause a problem with some sort of disease?

 

[TreeDaddy]

Personally, I cringe at the thought of any and all things cedar around my fruit trees

Not sure about cedar mulch

Curious what the experts say

bill

 

[Prof.Kent]

Because Cedar Apple Rust is transmitted in Red Cedar trees I would not use it... unless they can guarantee it is white cedar mulch only.
Then I still wouldn't believe them. :-)

 

[Tree Spud]

weed mat

 

[4wanderingeyes]

weed mat

This is my plan, but I can’t do all of my trees at one time, and a friend of mine does tree work so I was thinking free mulch. But I was wondering about diseases.

 

[chickenlittle]

I wouldn't worry about getting cedar apple rust from it if that is your concern. Mulch isn't part of its life cycle. Shouldn't matter either way, whether you have actual red cedars and junipers around or you don't.

 

[Appleman]

I would avoid using any variety of cedar mulch around apple trees. Mulch is acidic and holds moisture.As it decomposes it adds to the soil lowering PH. Best PH for managing apples is 6.2 PH to 6.8. Mulch can rot or damage the bark near the base and have found it to encourage bore damage. Multching tends to absorb heat during January thaws icreasibg sap flow which is trapped and frozen in the cambium risking sunscald damage. It won't cause cedar applr rust as the virus resides in the gulls of red cedar and other kinds of junipers and can't be transmitted by multching..

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I would avoid using any variety of cedar mulch around apple trees. Mulch is acidic and holds moisture.As it decomposes it adds to the soil lowering PH. Best PH for managing apples is 6.2 PH to 6.8. Mulch can rot or damage the bark near the base and have found it to encourage bore damage. Multching tends to absorb heat during January thaws icreasibg sap flow which is trapped and frozen in the cambium risking sunscald damage. It won't cause cedar applr rust as the virus resides in the gulls of red cedar and other kinds of junipers and can't be transmitted by multching..

Just a question, wouldn’t a weed mat, or rock also absorb heat ? Do you just leave yours then? Do you put anything around them?

 

[SD51555]

I would avoid using any variety of cedar mulch around apple trees. Mulch is acidic and holds moisture.As it decomposes it adds to the soil lowering PH. Best PH for managing apples is 6.2 PH to 6.8. Mulch can rot or damage the bark near the base and have found it to encourage bore damage. Multching tends to absorb heat during January thaws icreasibg sap flow which is trapped and frozen in the cambium risking sunscald damage. It won't cause cedar applr rust as the virus resides in the gulls of red cedar and other kinds of junipers and can't be transmitted by multching..

Something to ponder. There's something else going on with mulches and straws.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...ndscape_plants_and_the_environment_-_A_review

Mulch Problems — Real and Perceived

Acidification. Organic mulches such as wood chips and
bark are thought by some to be soil acidifiers. No scientific
research supports this, and in fact studies refute this percep-
tion. One study found neither pine bark nor pine needles had
J. Environ. Hort. 25(4):239–249. December 2007
244 J. Environ. Hort. 25(4):239–249. December 2007
any affect on soil pH (51). A second report (60) found bare
soil to be more acidic than soil covered by inorganic mulch,
and that shredded bark and wood chips were least acidifying
of all treatments. Similarly, a year-long study found that the
soils under organic mulches were either more alkaline or not
affected by mulch treatment (100).

It’s likely that in artificial conditions, such as nursery pro-
duction, that woody materials do have an acidifying effect
when they are used as part of a potting medium. Release of
phenolic acids is one stage of the decomposition of woody
material, and if this material comprises the bulk of medium
then acidification is likely to occur. In a field situation, how-
ever, where the woody material is used as a mulch (and not
worked into the soil), any acidification will be localized within
the mulch layer and have little effect on the vast underlying
soil environment below. Thus, soil acidification due to mulch-
ing with woody plant material is unlikely to occur under real
world conditions.

 

[j-bird]

I avoid mulch all together. Weed fabric and gravel from the creek works best for me. I used mulch in the beginning and voles got under it and ate off all the support roots of a tree of mine. I then switched to weed fabric and gravel form my creek and have not had an issue since. I do not use road gravel as here it is limestone and I am not sure if that would affect the trees/soil or not.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Our camp has field mice and voles all over the property. I've used weed fabric/landscape cloth around all of our apples, crabs, and pears. Only used crushed limestone to cover the fabric to a depth of 3" to 4". We haven't had any critter tunneling or digging around any of our trees, and we combine those things with aluminum window screen around the trunks like Appleman does with his trees. No problems.

If we used wood mulch or straw mulch, the mice and voles would rejoice at the nice habitat we created for them. Easy tunneling and security. FWIW.

 

[Tree Spud]

weed mat

^^^^^ What he said ...

I add screen or mesh around the trunk at about 18" high and add a good layer of stone around the screen. If don't, critters like mice will burrow under the screen in the winter and eat the low bark around the tree and damage the cambium which can damage new growth or kill the tree.

I avoid using limestone as it can change soil PH as it leeches.