Ever think that drying out fast is the whole point? Those clear cups can trick you into keeping things way too wet, which is how you get rot. Terracotta forces the roots to actually go looking for water, so they grow stronger instead of just sitting in damp soil. I've had way more props fail from staying soggy than from drying out a bit between waterings.

Watched my buddy struggle with an old car stereo that kept cutting out. He spent weeks swapping speakers and checking wires, getting nowhere. I mean, he was about to rip the whole dash apart. Then he borrowed one of those cheap circuit testers that lights up. He poked around and found a bad ground connection in like ten minutes, a spot he never would have thought to look. It was just a simple tool, but it totally changed his whole approach to electrical gremlins.