I've grown a plant with just one fertilizer product (Grow More - Sea Grow 16-16-16, and once with MiracleGro Tomato 18-18-21). As long as the product is balanced that way (equal amounts), that's all the plant needs. Jack's Classic 20-20-20 is (or used to be) very popular. People fed it through the entire grow without messing with "lineups."
I think the lineup stuff is bad because people don't think about the NPK ratios they're feeding. You're basically buying into a franchised *program*. Follow the proprietary schedule. I'm sure it works. But, the grower isn't really involved. They aren't learning to "read their plants." They aren't thinking in terms of "last week I fed 1.2-1-1.8. This week I'll feed 1.5-1-1.7. The franchises don't make that info available. All you know is "that cross-eyed giraffe stuff works well!" If you get into the actual ratios of nutrient being fed, you can walk away from the franchise and create the same ratios using generic stuff found on the shelf at the garden center.
Do you remember the old Tareyton cigarette commercial? "I'd rather fight than switch!" The themed lineups remind me of that passion people had for their cancer sticks. :)
The "
calmag" might be useful to add (maybe 2ml/gal) because you're using distilled water (with zero ppm, almost). I mix 25% tap to 75% reverse-osmosis drinking water (from the coin-operated dispensing machine). I start with 150ppms, and presumably a sane amount of mg, ca, fe, etc. If I didn't do that, and used pure water, I would add "
calmag". Or, epsom salt (for mg) and gypsum (for ca). That stuff's cheaper. And, better (IMO) for treating deficiencies. Usually it's one deficiency or the other. Not both. I like to treat them individually. (If it's a ca:mg ratio problem, adding both might perpetuate that.).
But, your plants look fine to me. I wouldn't mess around. The soil probably has plenty of minerals to compensate for the water's purity.
When I grew my first plants, I spent a lot of time googling. It's confusing because there's soil, soiless and hydro. You read statements about something like: how important it is to bubble your nutrient solution overnight. It took me a year to realize that was a hydro-specific thing (or, organic soil growers making teas). You see people talking about drying/curing (post-harvest). Some say hang it 7 days. Others say use a brown paper bag. What's never mentioned is the environmental conditions which can make one necessary, an the other possible catastrophe. (I live in the desert and I can barely hang to dry longer than 2 days... But, they're still not dry. Just crispy on the outside. I nee slower drying. But, that would cause someone in Miami to have bud rot.).
It's hard to understand the context of what you read.