Herbicides are pesticides used to control what?

Study for the Ontario Pesticide Training and Certification CORE Test. Prepare with multiple-choice questions, get hints and explanations. Ensure readiness for your certification!

Herbicides are a kind of pesticide designed to manage plant growth by killing or inhibiting weeds. Weeds are unwanted plants that compete with crops or turf for nutrients, water, and light, so applying herbicides helps improve crop yield and lawn quality. They can be selective, affecting only certain weed species while leaving crops unharmed, or non-selective, killing a broad range of plants. Herbicides can be used before weeds germinate (pre-emergent) or after they have emerged (post-emergent). Other pesticides serve different targets: insecticides control insects, fungicides control fungi, and rodenticides control rodents.