So this fall while gathering up leaves from friends family and random people I have amassed a rather large amount of fallen apples, maybe a cubic yard. I'm trying to move away from composting and just directly mulching to let the breakdown and nutrient release be directly at the location I plan to grow. Has anyone put whole apples as a mulch? Any cons you can think of before I toss them into the garden?
only prob might be having bad fungi that you are feeding to overwinter.
if you are having any blight problems, you may want to ferment em with the leaves and some "good" fungi a bit.
bacteria cant break down the leaves (or apples)while there is still color in em, the color is antioxidants, so the fungi attack first, the the bacteria break em down.
sugar will really feed fungi, so salt a pile with some old compost or some favorite mushroom spawn.
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If you press them and boil them, you should eliminate most eggs/larva.
Personally, I would NOT use them around any apple trees, just because of the plant specific pests they probably contain.
A hot compost pile should take care of the critters.
Just tossing them around as mulch could become a horrible nightmare.
That is one of the reasons so many people like to run chickens or hogs under the trees after harvest.
Leftover residue can wipe out next year's crop...it is perfect habitat for 'them'.
We used to do this at my Granny's house -- rake up all the fallen apples and throw them directly on the garden. By spring they had turned to mush and were worked into the soil. Seemed to work fine.
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