Aren’t plants considered asexual? If yes, how do they make plants have sex?
In: Biology
u/zeficu points out that plants mate through pollination. The mechanics of controlling that is pretty simple. They put a flower bud in a paper bag to prevent bees from pollinating it, and they remove the pollen producing parts to keep it from self pollinating. Then they use a paintbrush to put pollen from a different plant onto it, and mark the flower with some kind of tag so they can get the seeds when they mature. It is a little more complex with wind pollinated plants like most grain crops, but the basic idea is the same. Most plants produce many seeds from each flower, and many flowers on each plant, so it is possible to do a lot of tests in a small garden. Commercial breeders use greenhouses with artificial light to keep plants growing fast during all seasons. It still takes an extremely long time for tree crops like apples, because they have to wait a few years for the seed to produce the first fruit.
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