Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: Plant next day functions: if a seed, check to see if germination is complete (if still a seed, leave next day function)

If this plant is still a seed, it checks to see if it has finished germinating. Germination works by the accumulation of heat units in the same way as general growth. The same minimum and optimal temperatures are used for germination as for general growth, but they are compared to the soil surface temperature for germination, not the air temperature. If the accumulated heat units exceeds the number of heat units required for germination (a parameter), the simulation then checks the amount of soil water in the plow depth (the top 0.2 meters, or about eight inches, of soil). If the amount of soil water in the plow depth is above a parameter, germination has occurred.

This method is limited in that soil water is only considered when the correct number of heat units has been accumulated. But a seed imbibes water over its whole germination period. Probably this method would be more useful if the accumulation of heat units towards germination was hampered by dry soil instead.

If the plant was a seed and has not germinated, it leaves this part of its next-day routine (before water and nutrient allocation) and does not carry out any more plant next-day functions.

calculation of heat unit accumulation for general growth
Model contents