Self Watering Planters

Update: My pictures have diapered so follow the directions from the link. Also this didn't work for ficus plans so I may try again later. 
This was not an original invention. I got it from somewhere on the internet. But I will feel awesome if it works.

I made self watering planters out of a couple of old plastic bottles!
I started with this:

And then cut it in half like so:

I flip the top half over onto the bottom half. I inserted "wicking fabric" through the hole in the top. This a.) plugs the hole enough so that the dirt doesn't fall out, and b.) wicks the water up from the reservoir in the bottom to the plant on the top. 

A couple notes from my experience: not all DYI directions on websites emphasis the wicking fabric part, and the first couple times I tried this all the dirt washed out the bottom when I put it in the water. Also, apparently wicking fabric is a real thing and not a description of any kind of fabric that will soak up water.  Who knew?! I didn't. I used an old towel. Lets say it was in the interest of recycling and being extra green. My ignorance will be our little secret. 

Then I filled the top part with soil, stuck in a plant, and I was done!

This was a smaller bottle:

Here are the two planters that I made:

The plants are cuttings from a Ficus Tree. I was googling how to propagate Ficus trees when I found the first pictures of planters like this, so I am hoping that this works.