Reproduces by seed . Seeds usually disperse earlier than those of cultivated sorghum. Plants produce up to 2,000 seeds per inflorescence. Some buried viable seed can persist in the soil for up to 12 years. Seeds near the soil surface typically germinate the following season.
Most seeds germinate mid-spring through early summer.
Cleaning agricultural machinery after use in infested fields and confining livestock that has had access to mature sorghums for about 1 week can prevent introduction of weedy sorghum seeds into uninfested fields. Plants cannot tolerate repeated, close mowing. Repeated tilling every few weeks in summer or winter can help control infestations in agricultural fields. However, tilling once early in the season encourages rhizome growth and new shoots from rhizome fragments. Crop rotations that include winter crops and crops planted in late summer also help to control infestations.