Plants in Techtonica are their own production chain.

Oddly the game starts you off in the Triage phase, with Kindlevine or Shivertorn collected from the map (you’ll have double the former), which you will thresh into both seeds and stems/buds. Seeds go to planters to make more of the base item, with zero loss. Each Kindlevine costs 1 seed, each seed provides 1 Kindlevine. You are effectively harvesting the byproduct.

The refinement stage splits that output into 2 items. Stems = Kindlevine Extract and Plant Fibre. Buds = Shiverthorn Extract and Plantmatter. The interaction between these various outputs allow you to refine the Stems/Buds so that you increase the primary output and stop making the 2nd. By the time you unlock this feature, it’s a good idea to convert to an optimized cycle. There comes a point where you have no use for either Plant Fibre or Plantmatter.

At the start of the game you’ll lack the tool & seeds to run anything complicated. Maybe 8 planters per basic thresher, then 4 threshers to refine. As you progress, you will optimize the refinement, unlock Mk2 theshers (triage first!), get better planters, be able to convert between seed types, and finally unlock a late game new seed.

Finally, know that the production chains here start simple and eventually gain tons of flexibility and therefore complexity. For example, you’ll need Plantmatter bricks. You’ll eventually unlock 6 different production chains that get you that product, and each of those has complex chains before. Which one is the “best” one? That answer changes depending on what tech you have unlocked. There are plenty more of these decision points, meaning that Techtonica is a game of near constant tinkering. Some portions are set it and forget it, others… well you’re going to be rebuilding along the way.