Plants grown by sailors out East? (5)
I believe the answer is:
tares
'plants' is the definition.
(tare is a kind of plant)
'sailors out east?' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'tars' (tar is a kind of sailor).
'out' indicates putting letters inside.
'east?' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'tars' going around 'e' is 'TARES'.
'grown by' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tares that I've seen before include "The weights of packaging" , "Stare at the vetches" .)