Eli5: why we need to plant seeds, but in nature they just grow where they fall?
In: 28
A few reasons:
1) nature is playing a numbers game, most seeds will never grow or will be outcompeted and die young. We’re usually trying to make something orderly. We get greater predictability by ensuring as near to ideal growing conditions as possible and arranging them as we like can improve aesthetics, crop yield, make it easier to maintain and harvest fields, etc…etc…
2) fields and pots are much more controlled circumstances than nature. Nature will often provide some covering in the form of droppings, wind blowing detritus over the seeds, animal action packing the seeds down, rain sinking them in, etc…. Which are often limited or removed in manmade locations.
3) a lot of the ornamental and agricultural plants we use do not and have never existed as part of nature. They were created by human selection and that may or may not have impacted their ability to grow naturally. An extreme example would be fruit trees, many of which are actually cloned by taking cuttings rather than planted from seed because planting from seed would result in unpredictable and often unpalatable fruit.
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