Question
Does mulching spread gorse seed?
No. Mulching does not spread, introduce or plant seeds. The process crushes vegetation and creates a mulch layer that helps suppress regrowth by reducing light penetration and limiting seed germination. If regrowth occurs it is generally due to the existing seed bank already present in the soil, rather than the mulching process itself.
This is the most common concern people raise about mulching gorse, and it is a fair one to ask. The worry is that running a machine through a seeding stand acts like a spreader. In practice it does not work that way: the material is crushed and processed rather than thrown, and it stays where it falls.
The reason regrowth appears has nothing to do with the clearing method. Gorse seed is extremely long-lived in soil (decades, not seasons) and any established stand has been depositing seed into the ground beneath it the entire time it has been there. That seed bank is already in your soil before anyone arrives with a machine, and no clearing method available removes it. Spraying does not touch it either.
What the mulch layer does is work against germination. By covering the surface and cutting the light, it slows what comes through. Regrowth on a mulched site tends to come up thin, soft and low rather than as a thicket, which makes it manageable by grazing or a light maintenance pass.
The practical planning point: expect follow-up on gorse, plan for it, and treat anyone who promises a permanent one-visit fix with caution. The second pass is normally a fraction of the first.
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