Base nutes alone, you're suggesting they run their plants at near 2.0 EC which is a waste of nutes and harmful to plants. Add the additives in their too and that explains the popcorn bud picture above. Here is some advice for you because I think you need it; run your plants at 650 ppm at the peak of flowering and you'll improve your yields. Btw, you're on the .5 conversion scale so if 650 doesn't seem like much, it actually is more than enough....