This is one of the fluffiest, least aligned with reality pieces I have ever read on tree propagation, and I've read a lot of silly things about tree propagation

This is one of the fluffiest, least aligned with reality pieces I have ever read on tree propagation, and I've read a lot of silly things about tree propagation. If I want to propagate 5,000 trees I have a few options. I can do what this article describes, and fiddle with some sort of artisan method for collecting seeds, or I can do two much more realistic things: Plant 20,000 seeds indiscriminately, knowing full well that many wont germinate, some of the ones that germinate wont reach the true leaf stage, most of the ones that reach the true leaf stage will take a good long while to reach 1', and of those that reach 1' I should expect to lose between 1/6th and 2/3rds in the next 2 years depending on the species, growing area, etc. Or, more likely: Take 7,500 cuttings from various different mother plants, propagate them using highly effective methodologies tailored to the specific needs of their species based on datasets that have been honed for decades, and lose roughly 1/3rd to the luck of the draw. Propagating from seed is something you do when you need the benefits of sexual reproduction and hybridization (look at the chestnut for an example), but if you need a lot of plants in a short period of time you propagate from cutting for many different reasons.