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Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: Plant next day functions: if annual plant and one year old, die (if dead, leave next day function)


This version of the simulation only supports three life-cycle types of plant: annual, biennial and perennial. An annual plant dies after exactly one year if it has not already been killed by frost. A biennial plant dies after exactly two years if it has not already been killed by frost. A perennial plant attempts to live forever. Biennials and perennials enter a dormant state when the day length dips below one hour above the minimum for the year. A dormant plant can lose biomass to frost, short day lengths, and water stress, but it cannot grow or die.

In this part of the plant's next-day routine the plant checks its age (if it is not a seed). If it is annual and over one year old or biennial and over two years old, the entire amount of living plant biomass dies and the next-day routine is aborted. You can still see a plant in the garden after it dies (it is brown), and it will continue to exist as a simulated object until you pull it up. This is so you can drag the organic matter blob created when you pull the plant up to a compost pile or other soil patch.

calculation of frost death, dormancy, damage from frost and short day length, damage from water stress, growth
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Updated: May 4, 1998. Questions/comments on site to webmaster@kurtz-fernhout.com.
Copyright © 1998 Paul D. Fernhout & Cynthia F. Kurtz.