Provided are methods for growing a plant under certain stressed conditions that alter the morphology of the plant. In certain aspects, however, although the plant is altered and may be undesirable for commercial purposed, the plant still produces an adequate number of seeds for breeding purposes. Further, because plants may be smaller in size, they can be grown at higher densities, allowing the production of large populations of plants to be brought under controlled conditions which can exclude pollinating insects and thus increase the genetic purity achievable in a breeding program.