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I generally control weeds from seeds with hoeing and pulling.

The absolute best time to pull a weed is when it has just sprouted. I look at the tiny leaves and I know that below them is a root at least ten times longer. At this tender age the weed is most vulnerable and also easiest to extract. Simply slicing off the leaves at this stage is generally enough to terminate many weeds, though there are some weeds that require complete removal of the root as well, for example, perslane and a weed that spreads via rhizomes such as sheep sorrel.

The bigger a weed gets the more firmly it clings to the earth, and the harder it is to pull it out.

My primary tools for weeding is a diamond hoe. I have two, one with a long handle for working standing up and another hand tool for working close to plants.

Slicing the young leaves from a newly sprouted weed in many cases will terminate the plant, but not always. I'm never “finished” weeding such an area because some weed re-root and continue to grow, especially during a rainy season.

Hoeing weeds works best when the soil is dry, especially using a diamond hoe, which depends mostly on “decapitating” the young weeds.

Generally it's easies to pull weeds when the soil is damp. Getting the root up is crucial, so think of the main stem as the root's handle, and grasp it as close to the soil line as you can.

If you find that the weeds are breaking off at the crown as you pull, slip a kitchen fork, dandelion weeder, or similar tool under the weed, and pry and twist as you pull it up. Weeds that have taproots, such as dandelion, usually must be pried out.

To take out a perslane by its roots, insert a weeding tool into the soil and pry up. This breaks up the soil around the root and allows me to pull it up with roots intact.

Even when seedlings appear small they have well-developed root systems.