Use a hoe.

Sue

This is planted in a 4 by 8 foot raised bed and a hoe is not an option. I know I can pick them by hand, but I want to know if anyone has any experience using herbicides around corn.

Any broadleaf herbicide will also harm your corn. Your only solution is to hoe or hand weed. Or, if it's a grass weed, you can use grass be gone. I've had luck using it to get rid of grass growing among roses with no ill effect on the roses.

But isn't corn a grass? I wouldn't be confident that an herbicide intended to kill grass, that is safe for roses, would also be safe for corn.

Not a recommendation since I have never used it... but a freind of mine puts "Preen Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer" (100% Corn Gluten the package says) around her corn. Its kills right after seeds germinate so it wont hurt the corn after it starts growing. She swears by it and tried to get me to use it this year.

Since you have a small area have you considered just mulching the whole thing? That would keep weeds down and help conserve water.

Mulching is the easy way to go. Newspaper covered with grass clippings is pretty do-able for most people. Preen is an option to prevent seeds from sprouting. The chemical-type Preen is listed as OK for some fruits and vegetables (strawberries etc). It costs a lot of money to test for each vegetable so companies often just test for the ones where sales will be highest.

Some of the broadleaf herbicides stay in the soil for a long time, which could screw up your bed for other things later on. I don't know the lifetime of the Preen if you plan on fall seeding of anything.

Definitely mulching! I've had great success with straw.

On a plot that small, I certainly would not ever consider a herbicide. On a field, 2-4D was the herbicide of norm for years. Still used on sweet corn, but roundup ready field corn is now the norm for grain production. 2-4 D ( the major ingredient in lawn herbicides) does not hurt grasses but will take down the major broad leaf weeds like morning glories, bindweed, etc that are counterproductive in corn.
Mechanical cultivation and/or mulching is best for any plot under an acre. If you have crabgrass, nut sedge or other prolific grasses, that is your only option except pre- emergence herbicides like Preen. These are sprout inhibitors so you have to mindful of what and when you will plant anything else.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and I guess I will get in there and pull with my garden claw. I planted the corn at 8 inches in all directions in the bed so it will be a little tedious.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog

It belatedly occurs to me: Do you even need to kill those weeds, if they're just an inch high? Isn't there a point where corn outgrows the weeds and you can just clear the whole patch after the corn is harvested?

At this size, you don't have much in the way of herbicide options and mechanically cultivating, pulling the weeds, or covering with newspaper and mulch are your best options.

2,4-D is used on very small corn, but tends to cause the stalks to bend and makes them brittle once the corn is over a few inches high. Last thing you want is to have the stalks break off just when the ears are almost ready to eat! You can apply it if you keep your spray nozzle very low and try to minimize how much gets onto the base of the stalks, but you may still end up with some brittle ones that will break in the wind. Tomatoes are very sensitive to the vapors of 2,4-D as are some other broadleaf garden vegetables, so don't use if they are near. Other broadleaf herbicides available to homeowners will also likely damage the corn at this stage.

Grass killers will also kill your corn, they are out.

The herbicide version of Preen contains trifluralin, which kills weeds when they germinate. If you cleaned the weeds out, you could put it down to prevent future flushes of weeds. Just mix it into the top inch or so of soil or water it in with about 1/2 inch of water. Trifluralin is sensitive to sunlight and degrades quickly if not worked into the soil. Corn is sensitive to trifluralin and it will stunt the roots if the corn is planted in treated soil. Once it is emerged and growing, it shouldn't affect the plants but I've never tried that and you might find out otherwise.

In a raised bed, I'd just pull the weeds when the soil is moist, then put down a good layer of mulch to prevent future ones.

Good luck!

For weeding in raised beds, you might look at some of the short-handled Japanese weeding tools, just google that phrase and interesting things should turn up. The Cobrahead weeder is also amazing if you keep it sharp. Keeping corn weeded is easy compared to so many crops, but the right tools are essential.

I was just searching for herbicide for sweet corn when this popped up in a search.
There are lots of different herbicides that are registered for weed control in corn.

Probably a bit hard to warrant buying expensive containers of herbicide for a backyard, and you need calibrated equipment to apply it.

Atrazine is the most commonly used herbicide in sweet corn.

I think grow the corn fast and let it outgrow most weeds

Several people have suggested hoeing and weeding by hand as the best options. In a 4' x 8' bed this shouldn't be difficult. I sense a resistence on your part, but I would strongly suggest you consider gardening organically as your best all-round option. It is not difficult at all, and you will have much healthier crops to harvest. A good introduction can be found at the website below. Click on "Techniques" on the navigation bar. Thanks for considering this option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

I'll second the Japanese short handled weeding tools. Try searching for kana hoe. I have a Korean one and a Japanese one. I wouldn't be without them.

The Cape Cod weeder looks to be similar. I don't have the tool yet but some have reported it is a better product.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cape Cod weeder