How we check our plant advice

Our care guides are written from published horticultural sources. The ones we cite most are the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), university extension services such as UF/IFAS, Iowa State, Penn State and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Missouri Botanical Garden and, for pets, the ASPCA.

Each guide lists its sources in a Sources section at the bottom of the page, with the publisher and what that source covers.

In October 2026 we re-checked the care advice for 129 plants against those sources. The audit covered watering, light, temperature, feeding and rest periods, pruning, propagation and toxicity, and it led to corrections in the care guides, symptom pages and propagation advice. We applied them in every language that carries the text.

Cat and dog labels for the plants in our hand-checked catalog are checked against the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants list. We store that verdict in Botanicaly. It takes priority over generated text, and the AI cannot change a toxic plant to safe.

If the ASPCA has no entry for a species, or files it under a different name, we show Pet safety unknown and say we cannot confirm it is safe. Unknown never turns into a plausible default. For a few plants we name another veterinary or university source on the page instead.

Profiles the app creates on demand for other plants use conservative safeguards. Generated text may not state pet safety, and a plant without a cited record stays Unknown.

A watering interval is an estimate, not a measurement of your soil. It starts from the plant’s seasonal baseline in our plant data, adjusted for the season where you live, your pot’s material and size, drainage and soil. For Pro owners, local outdoor weather can count as one more factor. It is context, not a reading of your room.

The estimate tells you when to check. In the app, a due watering opens a soil check before anything is recorded. Choosing Not dry yet moves the next check by two days. After two such reports the app offers a longer interval, and it applies it only if you accept.

Our guides also say how to check by hand, such as feeling the top few centimetres of the mix, because the right depth differs by plant.

The checks are done by the Botanicaly team with AI assistance. No outside botanist or vet signs off individual pages, and we do not say they do.

A guide describes a species in general. The app applies it to your plant, using its pot, room and care history. Advice never changes a schedule or setting on its own, and nothing consequential is saved until you accept it.

Identification shows high, medium or low confidence, never a percentage, and you can reject a match. A photo shows visible signs only. It cannot show soil moisture, roots or the conditions in your home.

Every guide shows a Last reviewed date. It changes when the content of that page changes, not when we change the page design or measurement code. If something looks wrong, email hello@botanicaly.com with the page address and a source. We review corrections against the catalog before changing the published record.