there may be special strains i dont know of that need special attention but yes, you can use the same watering chemicals for most plants as you would for others, your friend is just trying to act smart.
Plants are like woman some like the standard way others like it rough and some like it hard what was I going to say....
you see it is not the same for every plant, one of the reasons so many people have different results with the same seeds is everyone feeds based on what the label says or the old more must be better boys. I have always found the instructions were to high by about 20 to 30%
Some love to have lots of food and others like land based race seeds like med to little food. So do your home work or keep a log. Generally speaking you want to follow the guides but keep an eye on what is happening with the plant. it's kind of like getting to know what works and what don't with the girlfriend. You figger out what the right amount of drinks are and o'boy.. he shoots he scores