Growing Venus Flytraps at Home
Despite their threatened status in the wild, commercially propagated Venus Flytraps are readily available for purchase from many garden centers and greenhouse growers. Never buy a plant or seeds that you suspect has been illegally removed from the wild.
Growing Venus Flytraps is not difficult once you know a few things about what they need. The reason they get a bad rap is that many of their requirements are counterintuitive to what you’ve learned about the needs of most house plants. Venus Flytraps can be grown outdoors, indoors, or in a terrarium. However, it is often most recommended to grow them outdoors during the growing season as long as you have a location that is sunny enough. It is important to have patience when raising these slow-growing plants. Give them the conditions they need and have faith that they will respond favorably.
When growing Venus flytraps, it is important to remember that your goal is to provide the plants with conditions that are similar to those of its natural habitat. There are many ways to do this. What works for one person, may not work for another. Some might find that they have a sunny window perfect for Venus Flytraps. Others might find that they need to place them under artificial lighting. Still others might realize that their backyard or front step is the perfect spot for them. Some people might be able to keep them in a cool garage during winter dormancy. Others might find that the only place cool enough to keep them during dormancy is the refrigerator. You need to examine your situation, and come up with a plan that works for you.
Take a look at this picture of the Venus Flytrap’s habitat. Note the amount of open sky visible. This is important. This should indicate to you that Venus Flytraps need a great deal of light to survive. In fact, Wild Venus Flytraps need frequent fires in their natural habitat to clear away excessive light-blocking understory shrubs from their surroundings. They do very poorly and will not survive if they do not receive enough light. It’s this type of knowledge about their natural habitat that will help you understand what you need to do to provide conditions that mimic their home. If you really want to grow Venus Flytraps well, I suggest you research their environment. Learn the seasonal weather patterns of Wilmington North Carolina. Understand how their soil is different from most other soils. Learn what makes these little plants happy.
Venus Flytrap Care Guide
Venus Flytraps are best grown outside in a sunny area during the growing season which spans from about March through October. This way, they can get enough sunlight, rainwater and bugs. Venus Flytraps can be grown indoors, however it is often not recommended.
Soil
If your Venus Flytrap came already potted, leave it in the container it came in. Don’t try to repot it into different soil just yet. Chances are, the soil and pot it came in is good for it and your plant will be happy with this soil for at least 6 months to a year without you needing to repot it. Repotting it right now might cause it too much stress. When it does come time to repot your Venus Flytrap, follow the repotting instructions below. Do not use fertilizer.
Light
The best thing you can do for your Venus Flytrap soon after brining it home is give it a good amount of light. Venus flytraps need at least 4 hours of direct sunlight each day. Direct sunlight means that the sun’s rays must actually touch the plant. A north facing or shady window simply will not do. If you do not have a sunny area, you can use artificial plant lights such as LEDs.
Water
Only water a Venus flytrap with rain water or distilled water. It cannot tolerate dissolved minerals like those found in tap water. Keep the soil moist, but not constantly wet. Allow the soil to soak up enough water to become nearly saturated, then do not water it again until it partially dries out. Do not allow soil to dry out completely. These plants have no tolerance for drought. If grown outside in full sunlight during the hot summer months, you may need to keep them sitting in a tray with about an inch of water in it to keep them from drying out. Watering these plants is a delicate balance between avoiding too much water, and not enough water. Although it is normal for old leaves and traps to turn black and crispy, if you see too many leaves turning black all at once, it might be a sign that it is too wet.
Beware of containers without drainage holes. If your container does not have a drainage hole, be extra careful not to overwater, and do not keep it outside.
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Feeding it bugs
Do not fertilize a Venus Flytrap. These plants do not get their nutrients from soil like normal plants. They instead get their nutrients from the bugs they catch. Therefore you can think of eating bugs as acting like fertilizer for the plant. However, they still photosynthesize for energy just like any other plant.
Venus Flytraps in the wild catch mostly ground-crawling insects. If you grow your Venus Flytrap outside, it will catch it’s own food. If you feed your Venus Flytrap by hand, the insect must be less than two thirds the size of the trap, and it must still be alive. A Venus Flytrap will not eat bugs that are already dead.
Humidity
Unless you live in a desert environment such as Nevada or New Mexico, you do not need to artificially increase its humidity. It’s a myth that these plants need high humidity. They certainly enjoy a bit more humidity than house plants, but you don’t need to go out of your way to provide this for them. The plastic domes that they are sometimes sold in are there to protect the plants during shipping. They do not need it as a humidity dome. They would much rather prefer good air flow. Remove the dome and throw it away.
Temperature
Venus Flytraps only grow and feed during the warm half of the year. Typically this is from about March to October. During winter, they slow their growth and go dormant. Your plant requires a cold period so that it can go dormant and rest before the next growing season. The plant needs to feel temperatures below 50 degrees F for a period of about three to four months. However, they cannot survive temperatures below freezing for very long. Different growers achieve this in different ways. Some move their plants into a cold garage, some put their plants in the refrigerator, some even have a cold enough room in their house that they can use.
Repotting
You should repot your Venus flytrap at the beginning of the growing season, right as it is waking up from dormancy. Venus flytraps often divide during the growing season. This is a good time to separate the divisions. You should always repot into fresh soil. What soil is right for Venus flytraps? Certainly not normal potting soil. Venus flytraps can only live in low nutrient, acidic soils with very few dissolved minerals. The easiest way to give your flytrap these soil conditions is to use one of two options. You could use a 50/50 mix of peat moss and silica sand or perlite. Another choice is to use pure long fiber sphagnum. These are the only two media that are typically recommended.
The container you choose is also important. Do not use terracotta or unglazed clay. These materials can hold onto minerals and leach them into your soil disrupting the chemistry of the soil. Use only plastic or ceramic that has been glazed both inside and out. Venus Flytraps like a lot of vertical room to grow their roots. Choose a deep pot, not a shallow one.
Growth Cycle
When Venus Flytraps wake up from dormancy, their growth is normally very slow. It takes them a good month or two to fully wake up and begin its vigorous spring-time growth. As it is slowly waking up, it will begin growing a flower stalk. Normally it is recommended to cut off the flower stalk when it is about two to three inches tall. This will prevent it from flowering. The reason you might want to do this is because flowering takes a lot of energy away from the plant, and if not grown under ideal conditions, the plant can become too weak to recover. If you are confident that your plant is healthy enough to flower, then you can decide to take that risk.
Throughout the growing season, your plant will grow new leaves from its center. Each leaf terminates in a snap trap. Each trap can only be tripped about 3 or 4 times. After that it won’t close anymore, but it will still photosynthesize. For this reason, you should avoid unnecessarily tripping the traps. If you do it once or twice to show a friend, it’s not a big deal. Just don’t make a habit of it.
As your plant grows new traps, old traps will turn black and become crunchy. This is normal. Old black traps can be trimmed off only after they turn crunchy.
As Fall approaches, your plant will begin making smaller, shorter leaves. This is typically when Venus Flytraps show their best color. Some will develop a deep red color on the inside of their traps.