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.

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