plastic will bulge but clay breaks.

I use plastic for most of my Sans, to accommodate under-the-mix rhizome growth. I like to see the pot "stretching" -- it tells me something is going on down below and to expect pups. Also, I put a lot of gravel into my Sans mixes and they get too heavy to lift in clay pots. But -- I think there is nothing lovelier than a healthy Sans grown in a pretty terra cotta pot. Ah, no choice is perfect, is it?

I prefer plastic pots for my sans. That is what works for me.

Plastic pot placed in terra cotta pot

Now that I am watering my sans again, I am finding a huge difference in how quickly indoor plants in terra cotta and plastic pots dry out. Not a surprise, but I hadn't realized what a difference it makes until I started testing every pot with my moisture meter before watering. Right now about half my sansevierias are in clay pots and half are in plastic and they are all out of sync for watering -- there's no hope for establishing a regular watering schedule for the collection. I just have to test everything with the moisture meter before watering.

My small sans in clay pots dry out really quickly. No wonder some of them still look folded up and wrinkled. Not sure if their roots are established and taking in water. (Will this ever change, or do I have to wait for new pups to get a plant that (hopefully) looks the way it should?)

It also depends on what type soil you are using, grittier mixes need to be in plastic so they stay moist longer. Potting soils do better in clay.

I knew that. ^_^

In my area, I find that the clay pots are cheaper than plastic ones so that's what I use. Plus I love the "natural" look of the clay pots...

I mostly use plastic pots since they regulate the rate of evaporation more precisely. In other words, they provide me with a better guesstimate about when my plants need a watering. Other than that, design-wise I don't really like them. I've never seen a nice plastic pot. I often just select my plastics to fit in some nice ceramic pot or something. Or I just pot some plastic garbage bag with a hole in the bottom inside a ceramic pot, also works pretty well.

"Or I just pot some plastic garbage bag with a hole in the bottom inside a ceramic pot, also works pretty well." GAH, genius! I think I'll try that for a little hoya I need to repot and don't have plastic pots for. I heard painting the inside of the pots with color for boats works, too, but the plastic bag method is much easier...

I usually use plastic, but prefer the look of clay or ceramics. (Never find nice ceramic pots with drainage holes, so I go with plastic.) I've grown mostly cacti during the last 10 years or so, so in the beginning I thought clay was the way to go, but for my very grainy, usually completely anorganic mixes plastic worked much better.

All of mine are in plastic pots sat within nicer cermaic pots. I usually place something like a few old plastic bottle tops from milk or coffee jars, whatever is to hand for the plastic pot to stand on to drain any excess water