PANG NAM FUI 
Telling a Pothos from a Philodendron takes one fingertip and about ten seconds. I check the node for aerial roots, then run a thumb down the stalk for the groove, and the answer holds even when no new leaf is opening.
Most of the damage done in a repot comes from washing the roots off and from sizing the new pot up too far. I keep the root ball whole and unrinsed, go one pot size up and no further, then set the plant back in the exact spot it already lived in.
Training this vine up a moss pole works by gripping rather than leaning, so a dry column gives its aerial roots nothing at all to hold. I wet the surface before anything else, press each joint against it, and leave every fastening loose.
A limp curled Pothos looks the same whether the mix is soaked or bone dry, so the leaf cannot answer this on its own. I go two inches into the medium and lift the pot, and those two readings together settle it.
A Pothos carries needle-shaped crystals in its leaves and stems, and a pet that chews one feels it at the mouth within minutes. I keep the chewed piece, rinse the mouth, and put the plant somewhere a curious animal cannot reach.
A Pothos wants a mix with air in it, which ordinary bagged potting soil does not have on its own. I build it from equal parts coir, bark and perlite, then prove the result with a clock rather than trusting the recipe.
I keep a ZZ plant glossy by ignoring the calendar and watering only when its gritty mix runs bone-dry to the bottom – the one habit that stops the water-storing rhizome from rotting. Inside, I walk through the light, warmth, feeding and pot that make Zamioculcas the easiest plant on your shelf.
When my ZZ plant wilted over soaking-wet soil, I learned the culprit was root rot, not thirst. The fix is to cut every mushy rhizome back to firm, pale tissue, dry the wounds, then repot into a gritty mix. Inside, I walk through the full rescue and how to judge what can still be saved.
A yellowing ZZ leaflet used to send me reaching for the watering can, which only made things worse. On a ZZ, the yellow almost always traces back to soggy soil rotting the rhizome, not thirst. I walk you through the three-look pattern check that points to the one real cause before you water again.
When my ZZ plant starts drooping and falling over, I press the stalk base before I reach for the watering can. A soft, giving base means the rhizome is rotting; a firm one points to too little light or a top-heavy clump. I walk you through the three-second triage that tells the two apart.