Rye sown in the fall and plowed into the soil in early

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Rye sown in the fall and plowed into the soil in early spring leaves a residue that Is highly effective at controlling broad-leaved weeds, but unfortunately for only about forty-five days. No major agricultural crop matures from seed in as little as forty-five days. Synthetic herbicides, on the other hand, although not any longer-lasting, can be reapplied as the crop grows. Clearly, therefore, for major agricultural crops, plowing rye into the soil can play no part in effective weed control.

The argument is most vulnerable to the objection that it fails to

(A) consider that there might be minor, quick-growing crops that do mature in forty-five days or less
(B) identify any alternative method of weed control that could be used instead of the method it rejects
(C) distinguish among the various kinds of synthetic herbicides
(D) allow for the possibility of combining the two weed-control methods it mentions
(E) allow for the possibility that plants other than rye, handled the same way, might have the same effect.

OA: D

The Conclusion: Plowing rye into the soil can play no role in weed control.

The Evidence: the rye is only effective for 45 days, but major crops take more than 45 days to mature.

Notice the gap in the texture of the language. The rye technique has a flaw in that it doesn't last long enough. Therefore it can play no role at all. Kind of a large leap, no? Even the synthetic herbicides need to be reapplied. Why couldn't one use the rye and then supplement as needed with the synthetic herbicides? This is what D is addressing. Just because one technique is imperfect, doesn't mean it cannot be used at all.

Hi Dave,
I get your point (and I got this CR right as well by this logic).

However, got a doubt that how it makes sense to apply BOTH the techniques together for major agricultural crops, when these major agricultural crops don't EVEN mature from seed before 45 days and the one of these techniques(re Rye) works for 45 days ONLY.

I mean, realistically why one would use Rye for these major agricultural crops in such situations? What good Rye will do for these major agricultural crops in these first 45 days ?

Could you please shed light on this ?

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Dave,
I get your point (and I got this CR right as well by this logic).

However, got a doubt that how it makes sense to apply BOTH the techniques together for major agricultural crops, when these major agricultural crops don't EVEN mature from seed before 45 days and the one of these techniques(re Rye) works for 45 days ONLY.

I mean, realistically why one would use Rye for these major agricultural crops in such situations? What good Rye will do for these major agricultural crops in these first 45 days ?

Could you please shed light on this ?

I think the idea is that the crops are vulnerable as they're maturing, so it's important to control the weeds during this time. (Maybe the weeds, because they're broad-leaved, will block the sun from the crops. Maybe they'll compete with the crops for nutrients. The important thing to see is that the weeds are bad for the crops.) In other words, we want the crops to be safe while they're maturing, so a technique that kept the weeds at bay for the first 45 days of a crop cycle, would have value - we'd just need something else to keep the crops safe from day 46 to when they mature. Presumably, after they mature, the crops can be harvested, and so no longer need to be protected. So the plan might be to use the rye to keep the crops safe from weeds for the first 45 days, and then use synthetic herbicides to keep the crops safe from weeds until maturation.

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote: I think the idea is that the crops are vulnerable as they're maturing, so it's important to control the weeds during this time. (Maybe the weeds, because they're broad-leaved, will block the sun from the crops. Maybe they'll compete with the crops for nutrients. The important thing to see is that the weeds are bad for the crops.) In other words, we want the crops to be safe while they're maturing, so a technique that kept the weeds at bay for the first 45 days of a crop cycle, would have value - we'd just need something else to keep the crops safe from day 46 to when they mature. Presumably, after they mature, the crops can be harvested, and so no longer need to be protected. So the plan might be to use the rye to keep the crops safe from weeds for the first 45 days, and then use synthetic herbicides to keep the crops safe from weeds until maturation.

I hear you here. This makes sense really!

Another point I noticed:

"Synthetic herbicides, on the other hand, although not any longer-lasting, can be reapplied as the crop grows" -- from this statement it can be construed that Synthetic herbicides most likely remain effective for 45 days or so and can be reapplied.
So, we can say that similarly Rye,which ALSO holds effective for 45 days can be applied for major agricultural crops during their pre-mature/initial 45 days period (perhaps along side with Synthetic herbicides).

Does this logic work ?

RBBmba@2014 wrote:

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote: I think the idea is that the crops are vulnerable as they're maturing, so it's important to control the weeds during this time. (Maybe the weeds, because they're broad-leaved, will block the sun from the crops. Maybe they'll compete with the crops for nutrients. The important thing to see is that the weeds are bad for the crops.) In other words, we want the crops to be safe while they're maturing, so a technique that kept the weeds at bay for the first 45 days of a crop cycle, would have value - we'd just need something else to keep the crops safe from day 46 to when they mature. Presumably, after they mature, the crops can be harvested, and so no longer need to be protected. So the plan might be to use the rye to keep the crops safe from weeds for the first 45 days, and then use synthetic herbicides to keep the crops safe from weeds until maturation.

I hear you here. This makes sense really!

Another point I noticed:

"Synthetic herbicides, on the other hand, although not any longer-lasting, can be reapplied as the crop grows" -- from this statement it can be construed that Synthetic herbicides most likely remain effective for 45 days or so and can be reapplied.
So, we can say that similarly Rye,which ALSO holds effective for 45 days can be applied for major agricultural crops during their pre-mature/initial 45 days period (perhaps along side with Synthetic herbicides).

Does this logic work ?

Sounds perfectly logical to me.