The topic of ecological practical and political considerations in the selection of weed targets for biological control has been widely discussed during the past two decades mostly from the perspective of insect herbivores. For conceptual and practical pur- poses plant pathogens have been treated in these discussions as if they are a subset of inoculative biocontrol agents with little said about the inherent diÔ¨Äerences between pathogens and insects as biocontrol agents or the selection of weed targets for control by the inundative bioherbicide strategy. Herein I attempt to address the question of what makes a good biological control target for plant pathogens used as inoculative as well as inundative agents basing my analysis on examples from the past three decades. Despite the small number of examples available for this analysis the following generalizations can be made: (1) Weeds with robust capacity for vegetative regeneration are more diÔ¨Écult to control with pathogens than those that lack this trait. (2) A plantvïs growth habit is not a reliable guide for target selection; weeds that have been successfully controlled include annual and biennial herbs perennial shrubs perennial vines and trees while numerous failures have been reported irrespective of the targetvïs growth habit or reproductive mode. (3) It is more challenging to control species with genetic heterogeneity and capacity for introgression than genetically homo- geneous and reproductively conserved species. (4) Matching the target hostvïs susceptibility with the candidate pathogenvïs virulence is of utmost importance for biocontrol success since host‚Äìpathogen interactions at the species and subspecies levels are often governed by single-gene diÔ¨Äerences (e.g. varietal speciÔ¨Åcity). (5) Practical and political considerations are central to the selection of targets for control with pathogens. (6) Demand from inÔ¨Çuential stakeholders for control and/or for a nonchemical or economically sustainable control typically drives the initiative as well as the continuance of biocontrol projects to their completion. (7) In the case of inun- dative bioherbicide agents the continuity and ultimate implementation of a project will be dictated by the prospects of economic returns from developing and using a pathogen. (8) The stakeholdersvï perceptions of the eÔ¨Äectiveness of a biocontrol program can be unpredictable leading to conÔ¨Çicting views of ‚Äò‚Äòsuccess.‚Äô‚Äô In the Ô¨Ånal analysis a good weed target for control by a pathogen is one that has strong stakeholder backing and the list of available pathogens for the target suggests a possibility of acceptable control at a cost that is competitive with those of other control options. While this conclusion is also applicable to target selection for insect biocontrol agents it is more relevant for pathogens because of limited funding and personnel available for development of patho- gens and the added cost and technological complexity of implementing bioherbicides compared to classical biocontrols.