Decorative pots that look great around indoor plants are nice, but what you cannot see is more important. Plants need moisture and air, so that they need the ability for water that has been added to move through and then leave the pot. A plant without a drainage hole at the bottom of a pot may be sitting in moist soil at the bottom of the pot, when the top of the soil appears dry.
Because of where the drainage is, this is a common issue to miss. When your finger goes into the top of the soil, you could not tell if the bottom part of the potting mix is wet. A plant can be put inside of a decorative pot with no opening at the bottom, then when the plant starts showing stress symptoms, like the lower leaves yellowing, the natural thing to do is to add water when the plant is already getting too much water.
When a plant has a drainage hole in it, there is a way for excess water added during watering to move through the potting mix so the soil at the bottom of the pot is not holding a pool of water. Then you know that when the top of the soil looks like it has been wet from a watering that the bottom of the plant is wet from a watering too. Make sure to empty water from any saucer that has collected extra water added during watering so the plant sitting inside of a pot with a drainage hole is not soaking in that water from the saucer.
Try checking pots for drainage holes, pooled water, the smell of moist soil, and/or wet potting mix below a plant sitting in a decorative pot before making any big changes to how much water the plant is given. A lot of plants are not in pots with openings at the bottom when first purchased from plant nurseries, and it is okay to leave plants in nursery pots until the drainage issues can be resolved. When a plant is growing inside a decorative pot for display, a plant is safer inside a nursery pot than a plant planted directly inside a closed pot with no drainage hole.
Plant pots that are much larger than the roots are often used too, and a lot more wet potting mix will be sitting next to the plant when in a larger pot than if in the proper sized container. Even if a plant is in a larger pot with a drainage hole, a large amount of potting mix that is not in the roots when a plant is placed in a larger pot could be keeping the plant too wet at certain times. When repotting a plant in a container, avoid overfilling the roots when you can, and do not pack in the potting mix too much so the soil is packed. Do not bury the roots and the plant deeper in the potting mix than when the plant is growing.
Decorative pots are not wrong when used correctly. They can be used so the plant looks great for display when watering a plant in a pot with drainage holes that does not look nice at home. The decorative pot can make sure the watering of the plant does not get messy, and water can be added without getting wet as long as water that has collected in the saucer is not left. A small pot that is placed in the saucer under the decorative pot will make sure water that is spilled onto the shelf or windowsill is not spilled.
Look for the drainage holes, then feel if the lower soil is too wet, then empty out the water that is sitting in the saucer, then notice if a pot is still heavy a few days after watering. Check the containers for signs of yellow leaves. When looking for the signs, you could tell a plant does not have too much water sitting in a pot when the soil dries and roots do not sit in a puddle of water, especially if a plant is in a pot with drainage holes.