Domestic Phytology (HOUSEPLANTS) with Tyler Thrasher

Fungus gnats. Overloved cacti. Fiddle fig failures. $20,000 specimens. It’s house plants — and it’s wild, folks. Widely beloved author, artist, house plant expert and Domestic Phytologist Tyler Thrasher joins to talk about root rot, what to grow in a dark basement, the rarest plants in the world, the punishments for poaching them, grow lights for people and plants, houseplant ethics, how to keep your cats from taking whizzes in them, if you should name your plants, how often to repot them, how to keep an orchid out of your trash can, pet-safe, plants, if one should use their own surplus blood to feed them, and what botany crimes I have committed against my own plants.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Visit Tyler Thrasher’s website and follow him on Instagram, Bluesky and TikTok

Buy his book, The Universe in 100 Colors, at Bookshop.org or Amazon, and his journal, Grow a Damn Plant Journal

See Tyler at San Diego’s Oddities Flea Market March 29 & 30, 2025

A donation went to The Loveland Foundation


Links to things we discussed:

A domestic plant differs from its wild relative along multiple axes of within-plant trait variability and diversity

Zamioculcas zamiifolia ZZ plant

Leaf Structure & Evolution

Fox Farms Potting Soil

Trader Joe’s moth orchid maintenance

Tyler’s Moonbeam Flora

Conophytum

Epiphyte

Turface Clay Substrate

These tiny succulent plants are being poached by the thousands

In South Africa, Poachers Now Traffic in Tiny Succulent Plants

The DRAMA Filled Past of Philodendron Spiritus Sancti | Pretty in Green Documentary

Rare Houseplant Reddit: Finally got my dream and homeland plant !! Philodendron spiritus sancti

ASPCA’s list of Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants

Poisonous plants for cats to avoid

2025 Brood XIV Cicada Emergence

Fungal Leaf Spots on Indoor Plants

The Mean Seed of the Sweet Gum

Philodendron 'Spiritus Sancti': $24.99

Seasonal affective disorder treatment: Choosing a light box

The effects of ultraviolet-A wavelengths in light therapy for seasonal depression

Bright Light Therapy: Seasonal Affective Disorder and Beyond

The Ultimate Guide to Spectrum Science in LED Grow Lights

Spectral properties of phototherapy for seasonal affective disorder: a meta-analysis

How Light Therapy Can Help With Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Photosynthetic benefits of ultraviolet-A to Pimelea ligustrina, a woody shrub of sub-alpine Australia

Video: How Will New Windows Affect My Plants?

What Are Plant Growth Regulators?

DIY Tissue Culture: How to Get Started for Less Than $200

Bright Light Therapy: Growing Evidence Beyond Seasonal Depression

Bright Light Therapy for Nonseasonal Depressive Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis


Other episodes you may enjoy:

Cycadology (RARE PLANT DRAMA)

Dendrology (TREES)

Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE)

Mycology (MUSHROOMS)

Pomology (APPLES)

Attention-Deficit Neuropsychology (ADHD)

Genocidology (CRIMES OF ATROCITY)

Zymology (BEER)

FIELD TRIP: I Go France and Learn Weird France Stuff

Carnivorous Phytobiology (MEAT-EATING PLANTS)

Suicidology (SUICIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS)

Carobology (NOT-CHOCOLATE TREES)

Cicadology (CICADAS)

Chronobiology (CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS)

Tiktokology (THE TIKTOK APP) with Hank Green

Erethizonology (PORCUPINES)

Coffeeology (YEP, COFFEE)

Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS) with @BlackForager, Alexis Nikole Nelson


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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Managing Director: Susan Hale

Scheduling Producer: Noel Dilworth 

Transcripts by Aveline Malek

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

PlantsAlie Ward