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This clearing you are making better be at least 7 to 10 feet above the waterline.

If its that wet, I would try to find a better area. However if you are going to clean an area that is wet natured, use a track type vehicle with wide tracks. Something like a 550 John Deere, or other small dozier, is worth the investment.

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Hooker,
I planted a field in the same type of site and the clover does great! I'm sure I live within 20 miles of you so I know what your dealing with. A lot of guys don't understand how much snow we get and that everything is wet in the spring-clover is frozen below and water goes quickly. Every one of my sites is only 2-4' above the water line.

I killed the tags with round-up 3 times, starting in may green-up, with follow-ups for the next two months. The 3rd treatment, is followed up in a week with seed and fertalizer(end of July), and the seed should do well with the fall rain we get-mine did great.

I cut-out the 1/4 acre field I made in early may-pretty wet still. Then I applied the Round-up when it dried up a couple weeks later. On each subsequent round-up application I re-cut the tag stumps to have fresh wood to let the chemical get into. In the end I dragged with a spring-tooth harrow behind the 4 wheeler and then planted. It might take a while for the tag clumps to disappear, but they will over time rot out and you can pull them pretty easily. You might have to follow up with another Round-up treatment in you 3rd year and repeat the above steps-works great.

You can get your soil test, and add lime in may, that way the soil is sweetened by the time you plant.

Unless you normally have standing water in the summer, I'd go ahead with the project, it worked great for me! By the way, you need that Round-up to kill that thick swamp grass in the tags.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

Go for the Roundup but try to spray so there are no drips coming off the shrubs. If the Roundup drips into the water you could kill more vegetation than you want.

It is good to leave some cover around wet areas. The deer use these as highways so they don't have to walk in the wet or out in the open.

Dan O.

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Like I said before Hooker, if I had to plant 7' above the water line, I wouldn't have the food plots I have, let alone my house, my yard, my garage, my shed, my mailbox, my LP tank, my flower garden, my planted pines,.....I think you get the picture.

As long as the water you experience in the site is only seasonal-spring melt-, I wouldn't even think twice about it.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

If your planting a quality ladino clover you will need to make sure that the product is not under water more than 7 days. If there is a lot of water leeching you will need to continully check the soil ph. At 7 days under water you will start to kill off the root. I would think that barking the tree with a chain saw or cutting and piling the trees to make habitat for critters would work... Kinda hard not having a picture.

Lunchbucket,
Does it matter if the ground is still frozen, or near frozen when it is covered by water?