You can give the pot to a first time grower with a plant in it and they just need to water it. It may not yield the best or have the most pronounced results, however it works wonders for people who do not have experience gardening or are too sick to worry about learning a new craft. In my experience, it is an efficient and simple way to get new gardeners easily started.
You seem like a good guy, and I appreciate that you don't use the layering concept, and I don't mean to sound like a prick ( I do that inadvertently)
It's
far from a water only recipe, you should see how many people run into alllllll sorts of crazy shit at around week 5 to week 6.
The internet is FULL of pics and threads on that.
I wouldn't give that soil to a newbie, i'd show him how to use chelated chems before that..
If you are an editor for a grow magazine, it's even MORE important that you realize this.
The layered nutrients are long gone before the plant "needs" it.
not to mention cannabis is a drought tolerant plant, the root system is massive, and verrrry fast growing, in a good soil the plant can send roots down to the bottom of the container within days (sometime even hours) after transplanting, having the entire growing media with cycled nutrients will far exceed
any layered soil.
The premise is flawed, roots do NOT wait for them to "need" the nutrients to use them, in a layered soil the amended soil is so high in organic nutrients, acidic and anaerobic, the soil itself prunes the roots, and by the time the soil is actually conducive to roots living in it, the water based soluble nutrients are long gone.
it has NO advantage, whatsoever.
Look, I'm merely trying to educate people. From a biochemistry standpoint, a horticulture standpoint, a botany standpoint and from 25+yrs of experience growing damn near everything, it's flawed in every way imaginable.