Plants need the same things we need to grow, but they get these nutrients in a different manner. We eat food and drink liquids, and our digestive tract digests these into their basic components - carbohydrates (sugars), lipids (fats), and proteins. In addition, the plants need light from the sun because they use the light to activate their digestive and creation pathways. When we have carbohydrates, we break them down even further into CO₂ to create a molecule called ATP - adenosine tri- phosphate. This molecule provides energy to all of the chemical reactions we have going on in our bodies. Plants also use this molecule to power their systems, and therefore to gather enough nutrients to grow. Plants will gather their nutrients from the ground through their root system, and they will make some molecules by using the sunlight.

Most plants require sunshine, water, carbon dioxide, and soil, or some other source of minerals.

Plants need the same things you need: water, the elements that they are made of, and energy. The difference between plants and you is that one of these elements, carbon, can be gotten from the air, and the energy can be gotten from sunlight.