Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: Plant drawing next day functions: internode next day
Once an internode has been created, it has an amount of biomass, a
width and a length. The internode is unique among the plant parts in that it increases in size for two
reasons: for biomass increase and for water uptake. Several parameters determine how much of the internode's increase in size is from
biomass increase and water uptake. Normally, biomass uptake by the internode increases its size by about
a factor of three, but water uptake increases the size of internodes about tenfold. These parameters are
very sketchy so far but conform to the existing data.
Water stress each day can reduce the internode's expansion due to
water uptake. This means that a plant growing in dry soil for some time will be shorter than a plant
growing in wet soil. Internodes can recover somewhat from water stress, but only for a specified period of
time. After a maximum number of days the internode can no longer expand and is permanently stunted.
Another difference between internodes and other plant parts is that internodes can bolt. Bolting is a phenomenon that appears in many biennial plants: they form a rosette in their first year, then elongate to raise
their large inflorescence up for pollination. Simulated bolting works by
increasing the length of the internodes linearly to a multiplier of the original length. For example, the
internodes of some biennials increase about thirty times in length during bolting.
More on the biomass partitioning submodel
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