Contact your county Extension agent or land grant university for additional information on weed identification and management in your area. A weed is a plant in an undesirable location. Corn can be a plant in your cornfield but in a bean field it is normally considered a weed. Weeds can rob your desired plants of nutrients, moisture and sunlight, causing lower production and profits.
Weeds can also harbor insects and diseases and contaminate grain.
Herbicides are only one of many weapons in your arsenal against weeds. Other methods of control are mechanical, cultural and biological. Mechanical control means physically removing the weeds by hand weeding, hoeing, cultivation, mowing or flaming. Biological treatments use natural enemies of the weed for control. Broadleaf weeds are identified by those features that make them different than grasses.