Life happens, and nutrients come and go. When you’re out of nutrients, the thought of losing your plants you’ve spent weeks, maybe months, caring for is devastating. Luckily, there’s a few things you can do to hold you over until your next shipment.
How Long Can My Plant Survive Without Nutrients?
The main issue when running out of nutrients is dealing with nutrient deficiencies that can show up as a color change and leaf die-off. Each nutrient has high volumes of specific elements and nutrient deficiencies can be linked to which Rise nutrient you are not using enough of. Our Sprout and Blossom nutrients both contain high levels of Iron, Nitrogen, and Potassium. Your plants can go up to 14 days without high levels of macronutrients, but you can swap one for the other if you run out of one.
After 14 days, you may start to see yellowing of the old and new leaves, or browning on the side of the leaves. This does not mean that your plant is a goner, and you can still recover your plant! The best thing to do is to remove leaves that are completely yellow or brown. If you run out of Thrive you may experience deficiencies in Magnesium or Phosphorus. Your plants can go up to 21 days without these nutrients before showing signs of yellowing or browning. The other ingredients in Thrive occur in small enough quantities where only larger, more developed plants will experience issues. If you see issues, pruning off yellow or brown leaves will help your plants focus their nutrients where they need them most.
If you happen to run out of pH Balance, your plants will be fine for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, you may see an overall decrease in plant health as pH Balance helps your plants absorb nutrients. If you are in a pinch, a good DIY hack is to grab a fresh lemon and add 1 tbsp per gallon of water in your system. So that should be around 7 tbsp for a three level Garden, 6 tbsp for a two level, 5 tbsp for a one level, and 1 tbsp for a Personal Rise Garden. This is not a long-term solution, as citric acid is not very strong, but this solution should give you another 2 weeks as you continue to refill your Garden.
There are a few ways to ensure that the plants you’ve nurtured up until now survive until their next nutrient dose.
Option 1: Do Nothing
Our first suggestion is don’t do anything for 1 week. Yes, this may sound counterintuitive, but hear us out. Only adjust for pH and continue refilling your garden. Your tap water contains lots of micronutrients that can help your plants grow and your Rise lights will continue to feed your plants.
As long as your macronutrients are under control, the micronutrients that Thrive supplements will build up in your system over time and should be able to last until your next shipment arrives.
Option 2: Slowing Plant Growth
Another solution is to consider slowing plant growth by decreasing lights to 14 hours per day. This rate of growth will lead to less water and therefore less nutrients being uptaken by the plants’ roots. This should only be used as a last resort as your plants prefer 16 hours per day for optimal health.
We’ve created an easy to follow table below that lists next steps when you’re in a pinch.
When you’ve run out of:
