handweed

English

Etymology

From hand +‎ weed.

Verb

handweed (third-person singular simple present handweeds, present participle handweeding, simple past and past participle handweeded)

1. To remove weeds using only hand tools, that is, without spraying or using other weed-suppression technology.
   • 1956, The Philippine Agriculturist - Volumes 40-41, page 435:

     Snce the plots were wheel-hoed and handweeded twice, the number of man-minutes to handweed each plot is a good indication of the effect of the different treatments on the different weed species.

   • 1989, Tropical Pest Management, page 34:

     Filipino farmers usually handweed upland rice twice.

   • 1993, New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Proceedings of the New Your State Vegetable Conference, page 163:

     Thus, an additional 283.5 hours per acre were required to handweed plots not treated with Prowl.