Dear Gerrit and others:

Thank you for your immediate and valuable reply.

The problem reported in my last message disappeared after following your
guide. However a new problem rises. If START is set to "I" and SDATE to any
number larger than the largest among harvest date codes in Harvest Details
Section in FILEX, then the model will output 0's for almost all growth
traits such as LAI, SEED YIELD and BIOMASS etc. without warnings or errors
reported by the model. However, if HARVS is changed from "R" to "A" in "Line
4: Management" in Simulation Controls Section, the problem will disappear.

I want the model to use my measured harvest dates rather than ones
"automatic when conditions satisfactory."  Could you or somebody else help ?

Jinzhong Yang

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerrit Hoogenboom" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 9:01 AM
Subject: Re: Simulation Start Date Code in Simulation Controls Section in
DSSAT3.5


> Dear Dr. Yang and others:
>
> On page 15 and the examples on page 30 of DSSAT version 3 volume 2 Start
of
> simulation is defined as a critical input to be able to run the crop model
> and has to be defined.  In your case you also need to define the Initial
> Conditions sections and ICDAT, the date that your initial conditions were
> measured.  If you set the Start to I, the model will check if ICDAT <
SDATE
> and will use the smallest of the two numbers.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gerrit Hoogenboom
>
>
> At 08:19 AM 2/6/02 -0500, Jinzhong Yang wrote:
> >Dear members,
> >
> >I am using DSSAT35 for simulating the rainfed growth of soybean in
coastal
> >plain soil in Virginia. I have soil moisture measured before planting so
I
> >prefer starting simulation at the time "when inital conditions measured."
> >to other "Suggested codes."   But, whenever I set Header START(Start of
> >Simulation, code) as "I"(I=When initial conditions measured) and leave
> >SDATE as blank in "Line 1: General" in Simulation Controls Section in
> >FILEX, the model will always take "Jan. 0, 1900" as  simulation start
date
> >no matter what is the actual experiment year , even though if I set
Header
> >START as "P" and leave SDATE as blank in "Line 1: General" in Simulation
> >Controls Section in FILEX, the running of the  model will prove
> >successful. This means that "I" as "Suggested codes" doesn't work as
expected.
> >
> >Can you help please?
> >
> >--------------------------------------------------------
> >Jinzhong Yang, Ph.D
> >Dept. of Crop and Soil Envir. Sciences
> >Virginia Tech
> >Blacksberg, VA  24061-0404
> >Office Phone: +1 540-231-7893