How to: Add Nutrients and pH to your Garden Follow
Our three-part nutrient system is designed to give your plants the correct ratio of nutrients at each stage of growth and prevent unwanted mixing of different nutrients. Find out more about how these three nutrients work to make your gardening experience easy and efficient!
Meet our Nutrients
Thrive
Thrive Plant Nutrient Mix is vital to plant growth, and includes all the micronutrients your plants need to grow!
When to use:
You’ll use Thrive throughout your plants’ growth cycle.
Chemical Composition:
Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, and <1% of Boron, Copper, Manganese, Sodium, Zinc
Sprout
Sprout Plant Nutrient Mix is designed for early-stage growth and helps fortify your plants’ leaves and stems.
When to use:
You’ll use Sprout in the early stages of your plants’ growth cycle.
Chemical Composition:
Iron, Nitrogen, Calcium, Potassium
Blossom
Blossom Plant Nutrient Mix is designed for late-stage growth and replaces your Sprout nutrient when your plants are ready to grow their flowers and fruits.
When to use:
You’ll use Sprout in the later stages of your plants’ growth cycle, during the “flower” stage (for flowering plants only).
Chemical Composition:
Iron, Nitrogen, Calcium, Potassium
pH Balance
pH Balance lowering solution helps you to keep your pH in a healthy target range for your plants, allowing them to uptake nutrients.
When to use
Use the Rise Gardens app to appropriately dose your use of pH Balance.
Chemical Composition
Phosphoric acid, Ammonium, Dihydrogen Orthophosphate, Citric acid
Common questions about Nutrients and pH
When should I balance the pH of the water in my Garden?
BEFORE you add water to your Garden, every time!
How much pH Balance should I add to new water?
For “soft” water = 1 squirt of pH Balance per gallon of water
For “hard” water = 2 squirts of pH Balance per gallon of water
For “very hard” water = 3 squirts of pH Balance per gallon of water
**NOTE: The Rise Gardens app will automatically calculate this information for you!
Why does pH matter?
It impacts a plant’s ability to grow and produce good-tasting food!
How do I know what the pH of my water is?
Using a pH or “water hardness” testing strip, test the water in your Garden ONE TIME. Then, enter that information into your App, under the “Water Quality” tab on the left-hand side. Then, you’re good to go (unless your water source changes)!
Are Rise Gardens Nutrients organic?
No. Organic fertilizers like manure or compost are hard to measure and could cause filtration issues and unintended bacterial growth in a hydroponic setting. Instead, we’ve used synthetic fertilizers derived from inorganic salts that dissolve into your Garden’s water for maximum efficiency and effectiveness!
How do I get nutrients?
A bottle of Thrive, Sprout, and pH Balance are included in each Starter Kit for new Gardens. After they’ve run out, remember to order more nutrients when needed. You can also sign up for our Nutrient Subscription Service to make sure you’re always stocked!
Since Blossom is designed for later stages of growth and is only used for flowering plants, it is not included in your Starter Kit.
How quickly will Nutrient bottles run out?
It depends on what types of plants you’re growing in your Garden, and how big they are! But, in general:
PERSONAL GARDEN
125mL starter nutrients = 1.5 months of growing
500mL nutrients = 6 months of growing
FAMILY GARDEN
125mL starter nutrients = 1 month of growing (per level)
500mL nutrients = 3-4 months of growing (per level)
How should I know when it’s time to add nutrients to my Garden?
The Rise Gardens app calculates personalized care instructions for your Garden. Follow along with this in-depth guide to learn how to use your app!
Remember that young germinating plants should NOT receive nutrients. It is too early in their life cycle to introduce them to anything other than water. Once they’ve grown their second set of leaves (or they’ve grown so tall that they’ve hit the top of the Nursery dome, whichever comes first), it’s time to transplant them into your Rise Garden and start feeding them nutrients!
NOTE: You should add nutrients to your Garden when your water-level is low. Make sure that you add water to your Garden in between adding nutrients. If you add all of your nutrients at once, the nutrients could clump together and build up in the plumbing of your Garden over time.
** When adding new water to your Garden, you should always balance the pH of the water BEFORE it is introduced to your Garden. For more information on balancing the pH of your water, please follow THIS GUIDE.
If you can’t wait until your water-level is lower to add nutrients, and you need to add nutrients right away while your water-level is high (so you don’t have room to add water), you can substitute adding water for adding time. So, in between adding nutrients to your Garden, you should wait at least 5 minutes for a Personal Garden and at least 15 minutes for a Family Garden before adding more nutrients. This way, your Garden is able to circulate the nutrients, which will keep them from clumping together.
If you notice nutrient build-up, please follow THIS GUIDE to clean out your Personal Garden, and THIS GUIDE to clean out your Family Garden.
Why isn’t my app telling me to add any nutrients yet?
Reason #1: Your plants are too young!
Reason #2: The water level in your Garden is too high.
As your plants take in water, the water level in your garden will slowly decrease. Your app will let you know when the Garden has the space to accommodate more nutrients.
Reason #3: The nutrient concentration in your Garden is too high.
This might happen if you’ve harvested a lot of older plants recently, if you’ve added too many nutrients, or if your plants are in “nutrient lockout.”
You have two options to proceed:
- Wait it out: when the water level decreases and you add more water, this will dilute the nutrients in your garden, and your app will let you know when it’s time to add more.
- Empty the water tank: for a more immediate solution, you can empty the water out of your garden and refill it with fresh (pH balanced) tap water. Once you’ve done so, be sure to let your app know that you’ve “Cleaned” your Garden. That way, it can tell you to add fresh nutrients.
How to add nutrients to your Garden without the Rise Gardens app:
Having trouble connecting your app to WiFi? While our Support Team assists you with getting your Garden online, you can still add nutrients manually using this guide, HERE.
Additional questions or concerns? Please contact our Support Team at support@risegardens.com. We will be happy to assist you!
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