system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I just planted seeds. What are they doing now?

Specifically, in the first few hours in a good environment with water?
gpt
The answer to this is "not a great deal in the first couple of hours" though it very, very much depends on what seeds they were.

The principal triggers for germination are sufficient water availability, oxygen and the correct termparture range. With those 3 things right seeds will germinate.

Light can be a germination trigger for some seeds but you'll notice that many, many seeds can be germinated in the open on a bed of moist tissue paper. You've probably germinated cress seeds or bean sprouts in this way as a kid.

Your seeds need ready access to oxygen so this requires they aren't burried too deep nor are they burried in soil which is packed too tight and it mustn't be water logged either. With regards temperature triggers these can vary a lot (from freezing triggered germination to fire triggered germination) but the vast majority of seeds germinate best in a termperature range just above typical room temperatures (76-90 F or 24-32 C). Hence why slightly burried seeds germinate towards the start of spring.

The most important trigger is the access to water. Most seeds are very dry and in order to germinate they need to soak up a fair amount of water so that the living and enzymatic processes in the cells can "begin". Water has multiple important effects such as softening the seed coat but probably the most important initial action is that the water enters the cells and activates a range of hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes are responsible for breaking down and accessing the stored energy in the seeds (i.e. starches and/or fats). Once this energy is available the cells can start to grow and divide. 

Access to this energy and water also triggers a whole suite of gene activation and it is these genes which will coordinate the cell division and plant growth. Depending on the plant switching on these genes might be rapid on the order of a couple of hours (i.e. cress) or could take a day or more.