Are Your Weeds Acting as Hosts of Crop Disease?

Plant pathogens that cause disease in crop plants can also infect weeds, especially those closely related to the crop. Managing weeds can reduce their effect as reservoirs for plant pathogens in a growing setting. To aid scouting efforts, several examples of relationships between plant pathogens, crop hosts, and weed hosts are discussed here. Being able to recognize weeds botanically related to a crop and the pathogens that can exploit them as hosts can inform cultural management of plant pathogens as part of a holistic integrated pest management approach.