Pine / Cedar Woodchips on fruit trees?

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5 year old buck +
Any issues? Cedar Apple rust is in my area. My trees and neighborhood trees have them, so that isn't going to make or brak me.

Any problems with fresh chips and tree sap from them? Anyone add a bit of lime on top. Best to let the chips sit a year before using?
 
I would let them sit a year before using them around trees, and yes lime the pile and the ground when you mulch. Ideally you can mix hardwood chips in with them.
 
We can't use mulch of any kind at camp - mice / voles love to tunnel and make homes in mulch. We've been using crushed limestone chips for years now. Mice / voles don't want to venture into fine limestone chips - very sharp and jagged.
 
As mentioned above, it is best if you can sprinkle some lime on them and let the chips rest a year before putting them around your fruit trees. Mulch from deciduous trees is best, but conifers can work too. I was able to get a couple truckloads of wood chips from the power company when they were clearing the right of ways. It was an even mix of deciduous and conifers and it worked great as mulch after I let it sit for a year.

My soil is sandy in some areas and the partially rotted wood chips improved my fruit tree growth in areas with the worst soil. A bumper crop of mushrooms appeared wherever I spread the wood chips as well.
 
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I used to use mulch...until I had voles move in and chew off all the supporting roots of a tree of mine (only thing keeping it in the ground was the tap root). Ever since that, I use weed barrier fabric and gravel/stone. I normally just pull gravel from the creek on the property, but limestone gravel is very common here as well. I haven't had an issue since. The gravel also doesn't hold moisture to attract bugs and grubs and the like that may either hurt the tree OR be a food source for burrowing/tunneling critters.
 
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