they hold water really good, last season i used plastic pots and i had to water twice aday now i water once. iv watered and went the next day and the soil was still nice and moist, even tho its hot here, it hasnt gotten 100 yet, but in a couple weeks it will be so well see then. smart pots are good, really hard to get off tho, transplanting out of the 1 gal were a bitch, i had to roll them off to get the girls out, i saw the top of a root last night from the carry inside i must of moved dirt so it showed and it was like half a inch thick almost a inch, it was crazy.