compost

if your plant is showing signs it needs food a top dressing of compost might not be enough but could be an ok boost if its looking healthy, amendments take time to breakdown in soils, best to ask yourself when was the last time it was fed and with what. also has it been transplanted anytime recently and was it mixed up with any food then? Top dressing should not stress it out unless you are working it in to deep and disturbing the feeder roots on the surface level. Good Luck!

if you think the nutes have been drained, it could help. the thing with this is there's no easy way to quantify what you are adding. how do you know it won't throw the balance off or loaded up with too much of one thng and not another? So, it comes down to trial and error. start small... take notes, observe the next 2-4 weeks.. do better next cycle. or, might be easier playing with a fertilizer formula of known quantities. either way, takes observation and adjustment.