That's for getting young plants used to ferts. You should ramp up to full strength of what it says on the bottle. If you have instructions for different types of plants, of different life stages, just use your common sense. So if the rate is 1 tsp/gallon for vegetables, start off with 1/4 tsp/gallon and work up gradually to 1 tsp/gallon.
Honestly I just work a little fish emulsion into my soil mix and let it sit for a while before I even plant anything, then the next time I use it is transplanting into the plants' final containers, the 3-gals. I squirt a little into the soil and mix it up well. This has helped me avoid the 'oh crap, flowering week 3 and my lower leaves are already yellowing' problem everyone bitches about.
stinkyattic Reviewed by stinkyattic on . was it to early to feed my plant? my plant is about two weeks old and i just fed them alaskan fish emulsion 5-1-1 any it is about four inches tall. Did i feed it to early? Rating: 5