This app knows plants and poisonous possibilities – and it just might save you or your pet

It was over a year ago that the AI app, Blossom, helped me to care for my dying plants. My Monstera and Devil's Ivy plants, in particular, were not happy, and I had no idea what to do about it. Thankfully, Blossom identified the causes, and after actioning the suggested steps, my sickly plants quickly regained their health. Crisis averted.

Not being one for thinking any app is the complete package, I began searching for alternatives and settled on PictureThis as being a viable Blossom alternative. Not only did I like the look of the interface, but I was also intrigued by the advertised ability to identify toxic plants around me.

I proceeded to download the app, signed up for a 7-day free trial, and began browsing. The app is neatly broken up into tabs labeled ‘For You,’ ‘Diagnose,’ ‘Identify,’ ‘My Plants,’ and ‘More.’ Each of these sections provides easy access to a range of features and tools.

The first thing that needed doing, though, was to go around my home scanning plants with the camera. I expected this to be a little hit and miss, but amazingly, the app was able to identify every single one of my plants, even when my photography skills were not up to scratch. By the end of this process, I had a whole library of my plants and easy-to-follow care information for each.

Identifying toxic plants

As mentioned earlier, I was keen to test the capabilities of the Toxic ID feature, as I wanted to know if I owned any plants that could be dangerous to my family. With young kids, I can never be sure what they’re going to come into contact with or choose to ingest. Don’t make me elaborate on the time my daughter sucked on a super glue bottle.

I’m sure I could have found this information out with a few online searches, but to have a dedicated app built by experts filled me with more confidence than if I were to ask Google or even AI. So, I launched the feature, took three photos of my Monstera Deliciosa, and sat back as PictureThis identified my plant.

It then presented me with toxicity information, helpfully broken up into sections. Now, I didn’t expect the plant to be deadly, or anything like that, but I was reliably informed that the plant can cause skin problems and, if ingested, can be poisonous. Maybe we'll need to be a little bit more careful around those plants than we previously realized.

The app also provides toxin advice as it relates to cats and dogs. The only pets I own are chickens (if you can call them pets), but as they eat anything they can get their beaks on, there’s not much point in me trying to stop them. Cat and dog owners, in my experience, are a lot more caring about their furry friends, and this app will help ensure their loved ones are well cared for.

Checking for allergens

Along with toxins, PictureThis is able to advise on allergens. I have friends who suffer from hay fever, and I think they’d find it incredibly helpful to know if the plants in their homes were contributing to their symptoms.

I did a quick ‘Allergen ID’ test on a plant that I knew would throw up some results. I chose quack grass and was quickly informed that it had mild allergenicity. This is the lowest out of three ratings, which visually tells you how concerned you should be.

Underneath that, PictureThis tells you the peak season(s) that these allergens are present and provides a few allergy prevention tips. This might be obvious for hay fever sufferers, but lesser-known allergens may be present in plants that wouldn’t immediately seem like they pose a risk.

It’s not perfect but I wouldn’t be without it

My only gripe with the toxin and allergen ID features is that the app doesn’t seem to store any plants that I’ve scanned for this purpose. It would be ideal to have a section of the ‘My Plants’ tab devoted to this so that users could quickly and easily find important information related to potentially harmful plants.

As well as inspecting plants for potential health issues, it’s also possible to set up care plans and add reminders to water and feed plants. I was able to quickly set up care schedules by making use of their advice. I could also set each schedule to be ‘smart’ so that it adjusted itself based on the season. Very clever.

All of this and more is available with a premium subscription to PictureThis. The privilege will cost you $29.99/£34.99 per year, but I think it’s well worth the money. Monthly subscriptions are also available.

Download PictureThis on iOS or Android. You might be surprised at what you find.