bros homies, comrades, growers,
i get your concerns on the live/cover mulch
however, live/ cover mulch has nothing negative contributing to whatever problems you are experiencing. IMO any deficiencies are due to lack of compost or too much of something that isn't suppose to be there and of course the number one corporate, lack of cooking time. i think it would be extremely hard to over due it with any cover mulch, and especially even harder to over due it with live mulch. live/cover mulch improves soil, doesn't harm in no way. having said all that, im SURE there are exceptions, for example using pine needles as mulch or using some sort of weed that would suck the life out the soil/plant, lol. just dropping my two cent DAB out MIND