Question: What would happen to all of the plants if they stopped defending themselves from germs?

Dionne Turnbull answered on 5 Nov 2018:

They would all get sick and die! 🙁 We wouldn’t be able to grow crops anymore. There are bacteria and other microbes everywhere… did you know there are more microbes in a little teaspoon of soil than there are people on the whole planet?! Some are good (plants have ‘good bacteria’ the same way we do, and also good fungi too…) but some are bad and cause disease. Because microbes are everywhere, a plant needs to be able to defend itself to be able to grow.

But don’t worry, I don’t think plants will ever stop defending themselves from germs altogether. They have a built-in immune system the same way we do, although some plants are better at germ-busting than others. We would like to understand the plant immune system better so we can breed crop plants to be even stronger, and grow enough food for everyone while looking after our planet the best that we can 🙂