If trees grew in zero gravity would they have less branches?

Question

If trees grew in zero gravity would they have less branches?

Answer 1

Without gravity trees can not grow  except  hydrophytes.

The question of the branches does not arise when there are no trees.Plants can not grow in vacuum and in the absence of gravitational force  there is no pull. and no application of energy from any source.

Try to grow a plant in an evacuated atmosphere in a bell jar and see what happens .This is an interestingly curious question and a better answer should be explored.

Answer 2

l don't think trees could survive, let alone grow in zero gravity.

They need the stability of roots and the reach for the sun...

Zero gravity, surely this aint a serious question>?

Answer 3

That actually is a good question.  If you could keep the rest of its environment unchanged, it would look very similar to how it looks with gravity.  Experiments would be the best way to determine how much of its growth is determined by geotropism and how much by phototropism.  Plant some seeds in balls of earth held together by thin netting.  Illuminate some from the side and some from below, and watch how they grow.  Sounds like a good science project.

How would their structure change over thousands or millions of years by evolutionary processes?  Structural strength would be much less important.  The best clue is plants growing in water, where gravity is a minor influence.  Some seaweed and kelp plants grow to hundreds of feet while remaining very thin.  Trees would probably end up looking more like that.  They would still need some structural strength to resist wind, if wind was still in their environment.

You might not see much difference in branching, but you'd almost certainly see proportionally more leaves than trunk.