Examining ATI Wisdom Booklets: Booklet 5 – Science – How Wheat Grows

Again, the ATI authors make the mistake of painting with too broad of brush strokes. Seeds don’t have to separate from the parent plant to germinate. Mangrove seeds always germinate on the parent tree. If you wander around in the Eastern deciduous forests in Michigan, it’s possible to find tree seedlings that have sprouted in the crotches of branches.
- Having said that, it is beneficial for most seeds to get away from their parent plant. The reason is two-fold – and the basis of evolution.
- First, the parent plant is using the sunlight, water and nutrients in that space. If a seed germinates under its parent, the seedling will most likely be unable to compete and die.
  - Second, once a plant puts down roots, it is pretty much stuck in place for life. The only time a plant can travel to a new territory is as a seed.
Not all seeds need to dehydrate. First of all, seeds that are native to climates where water is abundant like tropical rainforests don’t handle drought well. Even many temperate plants can germinate directly from undehydrated seeds.
- The tricky bit for temperate climate seeds is actually exposure to a minimum temperature OR a certain number of hours below a given temperature. Once you know that trick, you can start messing around with some garden plants. Tulips, for example, need around 6 weeks of freezing temperature before they will grow from the bulb again. When your tulips finish, you can dig out the bulb, pop it in the freezer for six weeks, and replant it in the garden to get more tulips.
- Drying is very important if seeds are going to be stored. In storage, bacteria and mold will destroy the seed if it is not dry enough.
The burial section was dead-on until the last sentence. Plants don’t have symbols. Humans have symbols. If humans want to use the planting of seeds as a symbol for death, that’s great – but traditionally the planting of seed is the symbol of birth, not death. Harvest is a traditional symbol of death.
- Geez, kids raised in ATI are going to get the symbolism of Van Gogh’s “Wheat Field” series completely backward.
Dormancy is not death. Dormancy is a very low metabolic state that can persist for long periods of time. Death is the irreversible cessation of metabolic processes.

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