My first thought is that Nitrogen cause the plant to increase its foilage and not bud. We all want great yield, so too much Nitrogen is a bad thing. I am thinking though, that a good amount of Nitrogen is probably great for starting, but I might be wrong on that account. I think the leaves on the plant will turn Yellow and fall off if there's way to much Nitrogen.
Anyway, just my thoughts. I seem to remember other here doing some experimentation with exactly that.

On the extreme you can "burn" your plants.

What you're more likely to do is keep the plant in a vegetative stage longer than it should be like kj said.

While a lot of people (including myself) use some fertilizer to start seedlings or incorporate some long-release pellets into their soil mix, for the most part you don't want to over fertilize young seedlings or even bothering with it at all until they're in their permanent growing home as young plants.

Once, about twenty years ago, I was experimenting with rabbitry byproducts for gardening. I discovered the answer to what happens when one uses way too much nitrogen. Rabbit manure can go directly on plants with no ill effect. But I just once, put a teaspoon of rabbit urine on a potted pepper plant, and watered it in. The next day the whole plant had shriveled and died. That was WAY TOO MUCH Nitrogen!

George
Tahlequah, OK

What is wrong with a 24 nitrogen level? It's all about the proper balance. If your garden needs equal parts of NPK then you should use something like 10-10-10. If you need more N you should use something like 30-10-10. Also, you can either use 2 lbs per 100 sq ft of 10-10-10 or 1 lb per 100 sq ft of 20-20-20 for example.

And, I agree. You'll end up with a lot of green growth and a plant that does not want to bud if you don't burn your plants by adding too much nitrogen with respect to PK.

If you use 20-30% of what is recommended by fertilizer manufacturer for chiles, they will grow better.

IE, if they say to use 1 lb 30-30-30, use 4-5oz of 10-10-10. You can pick fertilizer up after the plant is well-established.

I think the ratio is more important that single number. 24 really means nothing unless you know the other numbers

It's Miracle Grow 24-8-16. I used it all summer, every Saturday in all my plants (vegetables and flowers). I did not have any yellowing leaves and I think I had good yields but that is difficult to say since I only grew Bhut Jolokia and I had never grown it before.
I just bought some 10-10-10 and I will report back with any noticeable differences.

Can I use fertilizer on my week old seedlings??

Thanks alot,

Ravi

You can use fertilizer at any step, but whether the plat and/or soil needs it before you leech it away with following waterings that matter.

I'm in the camp that uses a little fertilizer to sprout seedlings in the soil mix, but I rarely use any more fertilizer more than once in my plantings before moving them outside, and never just before going outside.

Everyone does it differently it seems.

Long story short, chances are you wont kill your plants and the worst that should happen is you'll waste fertilizer or send your seedlings into abnormally fast growth rates under your lights.

The seedlings, themselves, are quite capable of "feeding themselves" for a little while off their first set "food leaves" provided by the seedling and you want a lot of your initial growth to happen below the surface not stalking up toward your grow/sprouting lights weeks before they should.

Wait at least two weeks to feed seedlings and then only give them a very small amount, about 25% strength. Do this about every 2 weeks. Definitely use a balanced fertilizer.

Plant will be forced to accept more fertilzer in the system if you add more fertilizer in the soil due to high degree of difference in osmotic pressure between root surface and the surrounding soil containing excessive fertilizer.Eventually this will kill the plant.As mentioned in earlier postings plant should be fed the fertilizer in correct proportion as recommended.Excessive Nitrogen accumulation is one of the reasons why we rotate the crops.If you plant the legumes on and on in the same area the plant will be leafy and no flowers or fruits.

On the seedlings, skip the MG & use Osmicote slow
release fertilizer, as the above posters stated
the plants can pretty well feed themslves till
the the "true leaves" appear fully.

ButchT

For peppers I side dress with balanced (whatever is on sale) early June, I use water soluble (aka Miracle Grow) until I'm confident that the plants look healthy usually about a month once they are outside. I'm in Zone 5. I continue, usually about once a week, with MG for everything else.