I wonder if that might encourage mice though

That's why getting the soil tested is important. It will tell you what to add for what you are trying to grow.

Keith

When mulching around trees it’s important not to let the mulch touch the trunk. It can spread fungus and disease to the tree. Don’t use commercial mulches, most of them are ground up used pallets and you never know what kind of chemicals they may have been exposed to. The best mulch is the one nature designed the tree to provide for itself, leaf litter.

Will mulch hold off the spring budding any ?
I'm looking to make it thru a late frost.
It's the only tree left from the original farm orchard.
Farm was broken into subdivisions many yrs ago.
Angry Orchard type of tree.
Man are they good eating when I get any .

Yep. Donut mulch.

I wonder if moss or sawdust might be an alternative

Our company makes several hundred thousand yards of landscape mulch. Not one single pallet or stick of used lumber ever goes into the recipe. Yes mulch types have a recipe. We are certified playground mulch supplier. Playground mulch has it's own recipe. Our aged red pine shavings are ground fine for soil additives, used berry farms and orchards.

We have moles here so I mulched the trees with crushed stone several inches thick and the new trees have a plastic sheet out the drip line and the crushed stones on top of the plastic. Then a fence around them. Do you guys see a problem with that?......jk

Sounds like you may be causing it to be tough for h20 to reach the roots

The only wood mulch suitable for putting under trees is fully ages shredded hardwood mulch. The aging process eliminates the nitrogen robbing property.
You will only find it at reputable garden centers like what we have around here. You won't find it in a bag at a Big Box store.

So you buy it in bulk. ~Trouble is a lot of us only need a couple bags.

Our company makes several thousand cubic yards of landscape mulch daily. several colors and types including natural cedar. Our playground mulch is sampled, tested for and meets state standards for school playgrounds. We have never ever ground up pallets of any type.

Some places around here bag their aged mulch. Not many.

Almost all vegetation breakdown (rotting) in nature involves microorganisms "processing" cellulose fiber. You (we) need "one celled beasts" to chew up the mulch matter and convert it to a molecule that awaiting plants can use. Mulch doesn't really take or sap nitrogen from the soil. Nitrogen is the limiting element in/on landscapes for about every living plant. Phosphorous is the limiting element in water. Nitrogen is used as the elemental building block of Amino Acids which are the building blocks of Proteins which are the building blocks of both animal and plant CELLS (all life as we know it). Add Nitrogen, normal moisture and heat to your mulch and the "starving" microorganisms will take off & multiply and convert it to humus a lot quicker that if left alone.The micro's tie up any available N trying to "eat" all the cellulose in the bark, grass, chips, hay ect. you are using. Want to rot a stump in 1/2 the time it normally takes in your area? Add 1 cup of N fertilizer in the spring/early summer, every year to the stump and it will disintegrate in 1/2 the time it does naturally. Hope the trees do well for you. Remember (from Nebraska - The Tree Planter State) "You Never Plant A Tree For Yourself." Sorry for the soap box................................ the mike

The woods around here seem to contain plenty of nitrogen (I think, though I have not personally tested it, but I might)

While wood chips will draw nitrogen out of soil it mainly only happens when the chips are incorporated into the soil. Top dressing sawdust or chips has minimal effect that way.

Mature forests tend not to have nitrogen issues. Almost to the point of them having too much. New growth forests, especially after clear cutting and soil erosion might have issues.

Great thread

I prefer finer bark instead of large woodchips.

I wonder if mulch helps deter mice