A field study was carried out at College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara during October- December 2020 to study the effect of different crop establishment and weed management methods on the productivity of cowpea. Treatment consisted of two crop establishment methods, viz. broadcast seeding and line sowing and six weed management treatments, viz. hand weeding twice 20 and 40 days after seeding (DAS), post-emergence application (PoE) of imazethapyr + imazamox (pre-mix) 40 g/ha at 15-20 DAS, imazethapyr + imazamox 40 g/ha (pre-mix) PoE at 15- 20 DAS followed by (fb) hand weeding at 40 DAS, imazethapyr 40 g/ha PoE at 15- 20 DAS, imazethapyr, 40 g/ha PoE at 15- 20 DAS fb hand weeding 40 DAS and unweeded control. The highest cowpea yield was recorded with hand weeding twice (937.67 kg/ha), followed by imazethapyr + imazamox 40 g/ha PoE at15- 20 DAS fb hand weeding (877.30 kg/ha). Line sown crop recorded higher cowpea yield compared with broadcasting. Imazethapyr + imazamox 40 g/ha PoE at 15- 20 DAS fb hand weeding at 40 DAS use in broadcasted seeded and line sown cowpea resulted in higher grain yield, net return and B:C and hence can be recommended as a cost effective weed management practice for enhancing productivity of broadcasted seeded and line sown cowpea.