Is Bigger the pot really better?

I've harvested out of every size smartpot up to 25 gal and I think 7 gal is the sweet spot for indoor plants. I've pulled 6oz out of a 7 gal pot with organic soil, which tells me that 7 gal pot will contain a root system that is capable of supporting a lot of bud. In your situation I think the 10x 6.5's will use more soil with the same potential yield as 4x 13's, the difference being the amount of time you have to spend vegging. I think that your idea is more productive in the long run though.
 
Why would you have standing water in your pots? That doesn't really correlate with pot size unless I'm missing something...

 

Bigger pot makes a bigger plant more roots more fruits

Sent From Pluto

 

While I totally agree that a larger pot will of course support a larger root system, resulting in bigger plants and bigger colas you're definitely limited by your tent size.

I like your idea of 6.5 gallon pots since you're in a smaller tent. I run 12 gallon pots but I use an entire room with multiple 1000's running.

J

 

A simple way to tell (as you grow, obviously not before) is when you toss your plants after harvest, check the root ball... if you see signs that the roots are bound or are solidly surrouinding the soil ball, then you could probably have gone a little bigger, but if your roots are just showing on the outside, or have room to go yet, then your pots are fine for the size of the plant you are growing.
 
In point of fact it seems, and in my experience, that you are much better off with more stems than with bigger plants.  Sure there is something to the fewer plants = more love philosophy, but if you have the time, more plants in smaller pots is def the way to go.  i pulled 1.3 lb off my first 400W Hps grow by using 16 8 inch 1.25 gallon pots.  It was a huge pain in the ass to address and rotate 16 plants every other day, but i have never come close to that yield again after moving to 4  larger pots.  With 4 8Gal pots i did 2 runs and neither were over 300 grams, so obviously the highest yielding method is a lot of small plants.
 
As far as the root rot thing, it's not really an issue unless you are starting a seedling in a pot way too big for it, and even then it will be ok most of the time as the root area should dry sufficiently to wick water from the surrounding soil while still getting the necessary O2.  I have had symptoms of overwatering when i transplant a 4 oz seedling root ball into a 3-5 gallon pot of fully wet soil though, so it does happen.  Most of the time it goes just fine though even starting the seed in its full sized pot.  In fact, most root rot or water logging issues arise from pots being too small; when root bound containers hold water that should be allowed to drain out, making it possible to drown the plants in standing water if you over water.
 
A 6.5 gallon pot will support a pretty mondo plant.  The size of your plants in that space will def be limited by canopy area before they get root bound... 
 
P.S. why 10 plants? you can do 5 in a dice pattern, but typically you want to stick to perfect squares (4,9,16...etc) so that they can be placed symmetrically.  9 plants in a 4 foot grid will do absolutely fine with 6.5 gallon pots.  If after the grow you find your roots wanted more space, then you can try to cram 9 slightly bigger pots in there, but to make 4 plants out yield 9 plants in the same space you would def need to veg for at least a month longer, and i'm still not convinced youd do better.  if, on the other hand, you went to 16 plants in square 4 gallon pots (12 in by 12 in) i guarantee youd beat both other layouts, but again, its just a lot more work that way.  
 
Assuming you get the canopy to fill the space completely, i would predict something like a 15% increase in yield moving from 4 large 12 gal pots to 9 medium 6.5 gal pots and again moving from 9 medium to 16 small pots, but your workload almost doubles with each of those increases in stems, so its a trade off, and if you think you will fall behind with a lot of stems, then you will do better with 4 well cared for plants than 16 haphazardly attended... follow me?

 

Maybe incorporate a dehumidifier in place of your heater after your into flower. I noticed my dehuey not only keeps humidity at any desired levels between 35 & 60% while sleeping, but also puts out quite a bit of heat. Both of these on top of only using 3.74amps verses whatever higher amperage your heater is pulling. Dehuey's work wonders also while going all 12rounds with the infamous powdery mildew

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