Why are there certain ways to germinate seeds when in the wild they just fall on the ground and reproduce?

Question

they tell you to put in soil so many inches deep,water so often but seeds fall off trees or plants and reproduce so why go through all of this, cant you just throw a seed on the ground

Answer 1

Many seeds have to pass through a bird, get planted by ants, or otherwise acted upon by the environment, so it is simplistic to say "they just fall on the ground and reproduce." As a general rule, a seed needs to be buried about its own width deep for best germination, especially if you don't want it to get washed away in the rain.

Answer 2

the plants that grow in the wild are plants that are well adjusted in that area and do well, thus saying that they live in perfect conditions in which they thrive in.

but like the first answer said, u can't expect a plant that thrives in a different climate than u to try to survive on it's own just becuz u put the seeds on the ground

Answer 3

Instructions on seed packets are there to help you get the best chance of producing a plant from each seed.  Plants in the wild produce many seeds, only a small percentage of which can ever germinate.  Plants in the wild also live in areas where you would expect a seed to be exposed to conditions conducive to germination of that species.   But if I'm in Alaska and want to grow an orange tree, I'm probably not going to be successful in just spreading some orange pips on the ground or tossing a few rotting oranges out the back door -- even though those might be reasonable ways to get seedlings in warmer parts of the world.