Thanks you guys this is awesome seeing a lot of CO love on this thread
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SirDabs I have used smart pots and other fabric type versions of it like roots pots for many years. Whether they are practical or not always depends on usage. Indoors I think with soil anything under a 10gal smart pot drys out too quickly, so using a nursery container like a squat 7 is better but be sure to give adequate veg time. If using coco and planning on watering/feeding daily (and vegging for less than 7days) then smartpots under 10gal indoor is pretty sweet. I'm indoor in 2gal plastic bucket container of coco and I feed every other day (vegged 5 days). If these were smart pots I'd be feeding daily and BLOWING through nutrients.
Outdoors is a different story, 200-400 gal smart pots have allowed for 5-10lb monsters vegged all season and topped off with straw to keep in the moisture. I have a few LSS outdoor in 15gal smart pots and they do dry out quicker than my 15gal nursery pots.
I notice they can be a pain to clean too, like if you get spider mites and are using fabric pots be ready to sterilize everything. or risk harboring a single mite in an entire pot woven together thus creating millions of tiny hideouts. I just left mine under a tarp all winter, winter fresh clean!
Needless to say they have their pros and cons.
I've been using brute trashcans 20's and 32's indoor and outdoor for many years and that holds moisture well in this normally dry climate!