question: How do plants grow from a tiny seed using just water and sunlight?
comment: Almost no plants work that way. It's water + sunlight + nutrients from the soil. The water is a solvent, making it easier to move chemicals around, the sunlight provides energy to drive reactions against their chemistry, but the soil provides the chemicals.
passages: Light has profound effects on the development of plants. The most striking effects of light are observed when a germinating seedling emerges from the soil and is exposed to light for the first time.
   The fundamental factor in the process of seeding is dependent on the properties of both seed and the soil it is being planted in. The prior step associated with seeding is crop selection, which mainly consists of two techniques: sexual and asexual. Asexual technique include all forms of vegetative process such as budding, grafting and layering. Sexual technique involves growing of the plant from a seed. Grafting is referred to as the artificial method of propagation in which parts of plants are joined together, in order to make them bind together and continue growing as one plant. Grafting is mainly applied to two parts of the plant: the dicot and the gymnosperms due to the presence of vascular cambium between the plant tissues: xylem and phloem. A grafted plant consists of two parts: first rootstock, which is the lower part of the plants that comprises roots and the lowest part of the shoot. Second the branches and primary stem,which consists of the upper and main part of the shoot which gradually develops into a fully nourished plant.Budding, is another form of asexual reproduction in which new plant develops from a productive objective source of the parent plant. It is a method in which a bud of the plant is joined onto the stem of another plant. The plant in which the bud is being implanted in, eventually develops into a replica of the parent plant. The new plant can either divert its ways into forming an independent plant, however in numerous cases the may remain attached and form various accumulations.
   Most indoor growers use compact fluorescent or T5 fluorescent lights during this stage as they produce little heat. HPS and MH lights produce large amounts of radiant heat and increase the rate of transpiration in the plant which can quickly dry out seedlings with their small root systems.
  
  Section::::Stages of development.:Vegetative phase.
   Cultivation requirements vary greatly by species. In general, though, sundews require high environmental moisture content, usually in the form of a constantly moist or wet soil substrate. Most species also require this water to be pure, as nutrients, salts, or minerals in their soil can stunt their growth or even kill them. Commonly, plants are grown in a soil substrate containing some combination of dead or live sphagnum moss, sphagnum peat moss, sand, and/or perlite, and are watered with distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Nanobiotechnology.
   Section::::Asexual propagation.
  
  Plants have a number of mechanisms for asexual or vegetative reproduction. Some of these have been taken advantage of by horticulturists and gardeners to multiply or clone plants rapidly. Humans may utilize these processes as propagation methods, such as tissue culture and grafting. Plants are produced using material from a single parent and as such there is no exchange of genetic material, therefore vegetative propagation methods almost always produce plants that are identical to the parent. Vegetative reproduction uses plants parts such as roots, stems and leaves. 
   Section::::Introduction.
  
  Plants absorb water from the soil, which then evaporates from their shoots and leaves; this process is known as transpiration. In dry environments, a typical mesophytic plant would evaporate water faster than the rate of water uptake from the soil, leading to wilting and even death.
   Seeds may be modified to require an excessive amount of water before germinating, so as to ensure a sufficient water supply for the seedling's survival. An example of this is the California poppy, whose seeds lie dormant during drought and then germinate, grow, flower, and form seeds within four weeks of rainfall.
  
  Section::::Physiological adaptations.:Leaf wilting and abscission.
   Hybrids may also be produced by a technique called protoplast fusion. In this case protoplasts are fused, usually in an electric field. Viable recombinants can be regenerated in culture.
   Seeds and spores can be used for reproduction (through e.g. sowing). Seeds are typically produced from sexual reproduction within a species, because genetic recombination has occurred. A plant grown from seeds may have different characteristics from its parents. Some species produce seeds that require special conditions to germinate, such as cold treatment. The seeds of many Australian plants and plants from southern Africa and the American west require smoke or fire to germinate. Some plant species, including many trees, do not produce seeds until they reach maturity, which may take many years. Seeds can be difficult to acquire and some plants do not produce seed at all. Some plants (like certain plants modified using genetic use restriction technology) may produce seed, but not fertile seed. In certain cases, this is done to prevent the accidental spreading of these plants, for example by birds and other animals.
   Three months after planting, the first leaves and flowers can be harvested. Flowers can be picked every two days during summer and every three days during the colder season. Four months after planting, the production of flowers has its climax. The harvest of flowers is usually done by hand during three to four months.
  
  Seeds and seed pods can be harvested when they turn black four to eight months after planting. After sun drying for two to three days, they are processed by mechanical tools to separate seed coats and embryos.
   Section::::Breeding perennial sunflower.:Combining genes from wild and crop species.
  
  Many sunflower species can be artificially hybridized but one group of wild perennial species cross, the hexaploids (six copies of all chromosomes instead of the usual two copies) are especially easy to cross. Scientists are using this group to make “bridging crosses” that will bring together the genes from the crop sunflower and several other perennial species.
   One seed-to-seed life cycle for an annual can occur in as little as a month in some species, though most last several months. Oilseed rapa can go from seed-to-seed in about five weeks under a bank of fluorescent lamps. This style of growing is often used in classrooms for education. Many desert annuals are therophytes, because their seed-to-seed life cycle is only weeks and they spend most of the year as seeds to survive dry conditions.
  
  Section::::Cultivation.
   Sprout seeds are soaked in water for usually eight hours and then drained. A high density of seed is placed inside of sprouting equipment or enclosed containers. The seed germinates rapidly due to the high moisture and humidity levels maintained in the enclosures. Seeds can also be sprouted in cloth bags that are repeatedly soaked in water. The sprouting process occurs in dark or very low light conditions. These dark, wet, crowded conditions are ideal for the rapid proliferation of dangerous pathogenic bacteria. After a few days of soaking and repeated rinsing in water (several times a day to minimize spoilage), the processing is complete and the sprouts are ready to consume.
   By mating the varieties of this species with cultivated varieties, new breeds have been produced which will under no conditions shed their seed when ripe, but which thresh out a perfectly clean sample with a much heavier yield per acre than common wheat. 
   The sunflower, "Helianthus annuus", genome is diploid with a base chromosome number of 17 and an estimated genome size of 2871–3189 Mbp. Some sources claim its true size is around 3.5 billion base pairs (slightly larger than the human genome).
  
  Section::::Cultivation and uses.
  
  To grow best, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, moist, well-drained soil with heavy mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted apart and deep.
   There are many factors which affect water availability, which is the major limiting factor of seed germination, seedling survival, and plant growth. These factors include infrequent raining, intense sunlight and very warm weather leading to faster water evaporation. An extreme environmental pH and high salt content of water also disrupt plants' water uptake.
  
  Section::::Types.
   Germination is initiated by soaking seeds either between wet paper towels, in a cup of water at room temperature, in wet peat pellets, or directly in potting soil. Peat pellets are often used as a germinating medium because the saturated pellets with their seedlings can be planted directly into the intended growing medium with a minimum of shock to the plant.
  
  Section::::Stages of development.:Seedling phase.
   Researchers at The Land Institute have made many tetraploid hybrids like the ones shown here. More than 50 are known to be perennial and winter-hardy. These plants are remarkably diverse in appearance, including variation for head size, color, leaf shape, height. Plant breeders at The University of Minnesota have made similar tetraploid hybrids 
   Some plants have a photoperiod (phototropism) requirement for a certain number of hours of daylight before they will grow, flower, or produce fruit. Without this, they will not complete their life cycle and will not produce fruit and seeds. So, seeds brought from the temperate zones may not perform as expected, or at all in the tropics. Some plants are genetically keyed to only start producing when a certain number of hours of daylight is reached, the same number of hours as is found in their native habitat. With the shorter daylight hours experienced in the tropics, that switch never gets thrown.
   Section::::Crop modification techniques.:Polyploidy.
  
  Polyploidy can be induced to modify the number of chromosomes in a crop in order to influence its fertility or size. Usually, organisms have two sets of chromosomes, otherwise known as a diploidy. However, either naturally or through the use of chemicals, that number of chromosomes can change, resulting in fertility changes or size modification within the crop. Seedless watermelons are created in this manner; a 4-set chromosome watermelon is crossed with a 2-set chromosome watermelon to create a sterile (seedless) watermelon with three sets of chromosomes.
  
  Section::::Crop modification techniques.:Protoplast fusion.
   Light is the essential "plant food"; everything else provided in cultivating a plant serves the purpose of helping it absorb and use the light. As the plant grows larger, it requires an increasing amount of light. There is no substitute for light: if the amount of light received by the plant is insufficient, the plant will stretch, and / or growth will slow to a halt.
   Section::::Techniques.:Rotary.
  
  A rotary hydroponic garden is a style of commercial hydroponics created within a circular frame which rotates continuously during the entire growth cycle of whatever plant is being grown.
  
  While system specifics vary, systems typically rotate once per hour, giving a plant 24 full turns within the circle each 24-hour period. Within the center of each rotary hydroponic garden can be a high intensity grow light, designed to simulate sunlight, often with the assistance of a mechanized timer.
   Plants make use of the phytochrome system to sense day length or photoperiod. This fact is utilized by florists and greenhouse gardeners to control and even induce flowering out of season, such as the "Poinsettia".
  
  Section::::Environmental physiology.
   Section::::"How Does Your Garden Grow?".
   In Meristem culture the Meristem and a few subtending leaf primordial are placed into a suitable growing media. An elongated rooted plantlet is produced after some weeks, and is transferred to the soil when it has attained a considerable height. A disease free plant can be produced by this method. Experimental result also suggest that this technique can be successfully utilized for rapid multiplication of various plant materials, e.g. Sugarcane, strawberry
  
  Section::::Methods.:Callus culture.
  
presuppositions: Plants grow from a tiny seed using just water and sunlight. Plants just need water and sunlight to grow.
corrections: Plants grow from a tiny seed using not just water and sunlight but also nutrients from the soil.  Plants also need soil to grow.
raw_presuppositions: Plants grow from a tiny seed using just water and sunlight. Plants just need water and sunlight to grow.
raw_corrections: Plants grow from a tiny seed using not just water and sunlight but also nutrients from the soil.  Plants also need soil to grow.