Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: potential/actual

Many processes in this simulation are modeled by calculating the optimal or potential amount and then reducing that amount according to constraints in the environment to get the actual amount. For example, plants calculate potential new growth each day considering only the amount of solar radiation, photosynthetic efficiency, and leaf area index (LAI). Actual new growth is reduced from this amount by several other factors: water, temperature, nutrients, soil aeration.

The choice of whether particular limitations affect potential or actual amounts differs for each process and depends mostly on where the simulation concentrates its attention. For example, a model created to study the reception of solar radiation by plant leaves would probably include the amount of intercepted solar radiation in actual instead of potential new plant growth.