Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: Plant drawing next day functions: if just emerging from a seed, make first internode and leaves

The model we call the "drawing plant" is a model of plant structure and growth in 3D space. The important thing to remember about the drawing plant model is that it has absolutely no feedback to the more basic plant model. We could have simulated each leaf, bit of stem, flower, etcetera, but we have little data on these parts, and the model would be very complex and difficult to verify. So the drawing plant model is for drawing only. In these sections explaining the drawing plant model, we will differentiate between the "drawing plant" and the "model plant".

We call the method used to generate and draw the 3D plant the "plant drawing algorithm." The plant drawing algorithm is based on a reading of the scientific literature on plant structure and growth. It is not complete or accurate, but its main purpose is to give you feedback on the health and growth of your simulated plants.

On the day the model plant emerges from germination and moves into its vegetative growth period, the drawing plant begins to form. It first creates an internode object and one or two leaves. An internode is a piece of plant stem between (inter) two nodes. A node is the place on a plant stem where a leaf comes out. If a plant has one leaf per node, it has an alternate leaf pattern. If a plant has two leaves per node it has an opposite leaf pattern (opposite because the leaves are almost always opposite each other on the stem). Some plants have a whorled leaf pattern, which means they have more than two leaves per node. We don't simulate whorled leaf patterns here. So the seedling plant just after emergence has one internode, and one seedling leaf if it is alternate or two seedling leaves if it is opposite.

An object, by the way, is an encapsulation of some programming instructions (code) and data used to simulate a real-life object, or just to carry out a set of calculations that hang together. The main objects in this simulation are the garden, the weather, soil patches, plants, and plant parts.

We will talk more about how the drawing plant grows in the plant part next-day functions, but here is a quick summary: Meristems (buds) make biomass demands to accumulate biomass in order to make new internodes and leaves. Sometimes axillary (side) meristems become active and create new branches. Internodes and leaves make demands to grow. Once the plant has started reproductive mode, some meristems turn reproductive and accumulate biomass to make inflorescences (flower stalks), which make flowers. Flowers accumulate biomass to make fruits, and fruits demand biomass to grow in size. Biomass demands are satisfied by allocating the new shoot and reproductive biomass photosynthesized each day by the model plant. Out of all this activity we get the 3D plant you see on the screen.

calculation of germination, starting reproduction, allocation of biomass to drawing plant parts
More on the biomass partitioning submodel
Model contents