It does work. I grew all my soil plants this way. Big bertha did fine. What I like about this method of growing is no mess running out the bottom. I've also used opaque containers too. Just don't overwater. Big bertha I kept really moist. Then she started to show signs of overwatering. So I backed way off and even took some paper towels to suck off some of the water. She wanted to stay pretty dry to finish off. Again watch the plant, they will tell you what to do.