Summer crops such as corn, sorghum, and soybeans tend to increase:

Summer crops such as corn, sorghum, and soybeans tend to increase:

• A. Summer annual weeds
• B. Winter annual weeds
• C. Biennial weeds
• D. Perennial weeds

Answer: (A)

Warm-season crops grow during the warm part of the year, so weeds that complete their life cycle in one growing season—summer annuals—tend to dominate. These weeds germinate in spring or early summer, grow quickly under the crop canopy, and produce seeds before harvest, leaving a large seed bank for the next season. That pattern fits fields planted to corn, sorghum, and soybeans, so summer annuals increase in these systems. By contrast, winter annuals germinate in fall and finish in spring, biennials take two years to reproduce, and perennials survive year after year through roots or rhizomes; their life cycles aren’t as tightly aligned with the warm-season cropping window, so they don’t rise as much under these crops. Examples of summer annuals include pigweed, foxtail, and crabgrass.

Warm-season crops grow during the warm part of the year, so weeds that complete their life cycle in one growing season—summer annuals—tend to dominate. These weeds germinate in spring or early summer, grow quickly under the crop canopy, and produce seeds before harvest, leaving a large seed bank for the next season. That pattern fits fields planted to corn, sorghum, and soybeans, so summer annuals increase in these systems. By contrast, winter annuals germinate in fall and finish in spring, biennials take two years to reproduce, and perennials survive year after year through roots or rhizomes; their life cycles aren’t as tightly aligned with the warm-season cropping window, so they don’t rise as much under these crops. Examples of summer annuals include pigweed, foxtail, and crabgrass.