Eli5:How do plants plant themselves exactly?

Question

Like for say an apple tree. Yes the apple falls down the tree naturally but the seeds are inside the center of the apple itself. How exactly do the seeds go to the soil and fertilise to grow more trees?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Two things: as mentioned already, animals eat fruit and poop out the seeds. This is great because it allows seeds to get carried into new locations and the poop is fertilizer. But second, the seed can sprout inside the fruit regardless. I’ve certainly seen sprouted seeds inside of apples before. And the fruit will get eaten eventually- if not by a large animal then by bugs and fungus.