So of course plants are living things, but how exactly do seeds “work” per se. I dont garden at all, but I don’t remember ever seeing an expiration date on a seed packet. Are they able to remain alive for a long period of time, just dormant until they germinate, or is there something about the fertilizer and the water that causes them to “become” alive (which every instinct screams at me that that’s not the answer, but I’m not a botanist either)?
I hope this question makes sense to you all.
In: Biology
Yes. Seeds are a cluster of cells that will eventually become the plant, combined with a package of nutrients which it feeds off before it grows leaves, and usually a hard outer shell to protect it from things like stomach acids and mechanical stress. The cells lay dormant until they detect what they think is a favourable environment. They do this by paying close attention to stimuli like light, moisture and temperature. If there’s too much light, it means they’re probably too close to the surface. If there’s not enough, it means they’re probably too deep. If there’s not enough moisture, they’re probably not in an environment where they’ll be able to get enough water. If there’s too much, they’re probably in an environment where they’ll “drown”, such as the bottom of a lake. And so on.
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