Here is what you will notice when harvest comes...The plants in the
smart pots will have nicer, harder bigger nugs than the Homer Buckets will.
The reason why is the circling of the roots in the Homer Buckets. In
Smart Pots the roots do not circle but grow to the side of the pot and "air prune" this causes more roots to grow out towards the sides of the pot. This leaves the roots to eat up more soil.
When you take the soil out of the SP you will see that the whole soil is taken by roots.
In the HB you will notice there is still loose dirt that was not eaten by the roots.
When the soil gets eatin by the roots it means the plants have done better.
And yes making them is much easier and a hell of a lot cheaper. I used to make my own but I am lazy so buying is easier for me now.
If you are making your own, I suggest you take one of your old ones and take it apart for a pattern to follow, this makes it easier to make them.
Another thing, Marijuana grows better if the container is short and wide. The roots tend to grow out towards the sides and if you give them lots of side space, they will do better than a taller narrow pot.
Check out Humbolts thread and see his SP's are super short and wide like a kiddie pool.
I will always use SP's over plastic containers. Another benefit is it is easier to fight fungus gnats when using SP's due to not having the holes in the bottom of the pot.