First grow, I used one gallon "smart pots" and it seems they worked pretty well. i transplanted into the smart pots just before flower period. Before that, however, the plants were just in plastic bottles that I had cut in half and poked holes in the bottom, and then wrapped with dark tape to keep light away from the roots. The plants did fine in veg stage with these, and may have done well in flower if I hadn't transplanted them. Next grow, I'm thinking about going with the plastic bottles all the way through. Why? the plastic bottles can be cut length-wise into long narrowish rectangles, fitting 4 to my cab instead of just 3 of the smart pots. (Just in case any of the seedlings turn out to be male, or runts, or don't make it or whatever, I'd rather have 4 plants instead of 3.) Problem is, I hear that plastic bottles with holes in the bottom will cause root rot. ...So I'm asking the experts here on gc: what do you grow in? Are all of you using air-permeable smart pots, or are most of you using plastic pots and doing quite well with them? ... Or clay pots? What's your reasoning behind the kind of pots you use?
Smart pots all the way, allows the roots to get oxygen better. Also, with plastic pots, when the root hits the side it just keeps spiraling around as opposed to receding back and branching out with the smart pots.
I'm in smart pots for the reasons Bullistic mentioned so clearly and succinctly. Mother plant is in a plastic container because I don't have to water that as often. But then she requires root maintenance (pruning).