Did your plants really produce using this method? This is my first time trying it. I did it as a lesson with my 2nd grade students and decided to do it at home as well.

Yes, my plants did very well. You just have to make sure the mouth of your bottle is well down into the water. Some people leave the lid on the soda bottle and put holes in the lids with a hot glue gun. I don't do that because the plant wasn't getting enough water up through those small holes. See picture 3. I took a piece of scrap material about 6-8 inches long and ran it through the dirt down into the water. That way the plants get a continuous supply of water up through the bottom where the water is. I've done it both ways with and without that scrap of material. What I found was the soil didn't stay wet enough around the plant. I was going to be gone for a week so I wanted to make sure my plants didn't die because the plant couldn't get enough access to water. The piece of material soaked up the water and watered the plants.

The second picture is one I want to try. It looks like to me it would take about 6 soda bottles per tower. I can see this working good because it would produce many plants, BUT I'd like to know how he waters it? I don't know what kind of bottles these are, but the top one appears to be empty. I'm wondering if he fills the top one with water and it's enough to water all the plants as it trickles down. This is an awesome idea I'd like to try.