Venus flytraps are a fantastic houseplant that thrive in poor, acidic soil with good drainage. They are not tropical plants and require no fertilizer, but they thrive in a steady diet of spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects. Venus flytraps are relatively low-maintenance plants that need full sun, moist acidic soil, and should be fed flies every 2 weeks.
To keep Venus flytraps thriving indoors, they need strong light, pure water, and plenty of food. They do not need to enter dormancy when grown indoors, but they can be grown 100 indoors with moderate to strong growlight. The key to a healthy Venus flytrap is strong light, pure water, and plenty of food.
Venus flytraps are not as difficult to care for as other houseplants but require special growing conditions. To keep them thriving indoors, it is essential to provide sunlight, a non-rich soil, and pure rainwater. These “snappy” houseplants grow naturally in warm, sunny areas like USDA zone 7 and colder regions.
In summary, Venus flytraps are a fascinating and low-maintenance houseplant that can thrive in various conditions. They are well-suited for outdoor life due to their ability to trap pests, make excellent kitchen companions, and thrive in bright, humid spaces. However, they require special care and attention to ensure their success.
📹 How to Care for the Venus Fly Trap
Our plant expert Ashley walks through the basic steps on what it takes to keep a Venus Fly Trap plant alive and healthy!
What happens if you feed a Venus flytrap a dead fly?
Feeding dead bugs to a Venus flytrap is not recommended as they fail to stimulate the small hairs inside the lobes that lock the trap and release digestive enzymes. The trap may not close completely or reopen in a day or two with the dead prey intact. The carnivorous Venus flytrap can survive several months without nutrients, but deprived of all prey, it will eventually die back. Sugars in fruit may cause the trap to rot and fail to close completely.
Should I let my Venus flytrap flower?
The Venus flytrap, also known as Dionaea muscipula, is a flowering perennial that blooms in spring to produce seed for reproduction. However, flowering does not necessarily indicate the plant’s health. In fact, struggling plants may use their last energy into flowering. It is advisable to cut off the flower stem as soon as you spot it to encourage vegetative growth, which can result in more big traps. Despite this, there is a simple technique you can use to turn your Venus flytrap into more Venus flytraps. If you are not an experienced grower, it is best to avoid this method.
How many times can a Venus flytrap eat before it dies?
Tampering with the trigger hairs on a Venus Flytrap is not recommended as it may affect the plant’s ability to feed and may ultimately die. The traps are designed to open and close a limited number of times, approximately 7-10 in optimal conditions, and triggering them all the time can cause all leaves to die and make the plant unable to snap shut when a bug finds its way to the flytrap’s mouth.
Venus Flytraps prefer higher humidity environments, and growing without enough humidity can lead to the plant stopping producing traps or even dying. To maintain humidity, place the plant inside a plastic or glass dome with air holes for air transfer. If a dome, cover, or terrarium is not available, frequent misting with pure water may help increase humidity. Direct outdoor sunlight while under any cover or container may result in the plant’s death due to high temperatures.
Food is crucial for Venus Flytraps, as they obtain few nutrients from the soil and rely on their traps to catch insects and other prey to give them the micronutrients they need for long-term health and growth. They absorb and store energy from the sun (photosynthesize) just like other green plants. It is recommended to feed the plant live or freshly killed food items no more than 1/2 the length of the trap in which you are placing it, so that the trap can completely seal around the food.
Fertilizer should never be used on carnivorous plants’ soil, as there is plenty of food available in the Houston area.
What to feed Venus flytrap if no flies?
Venus flytraps can be fed dried blood worms from local pet stores, which are reconstituted fish food. The International Carnivorous Plant Society provides a fact sheet on feeding blood worms to Venus flytraps and how to seal and digest their food. Winter dormancy is a natural process for Venus flytraps to rest and restore themselves. However, experts disagree on whether it is necessary. In their native habitat, Venus flytraps become dormant in winter, and if light is lacking or the plant seems to need rest, a winter of dormancy may be necessary.
Dormancy occurs naturally as sunlight diminishes and temperatures drop. By November, the plant’s leaves will begin to die back unless grow lights are used. To give the plant a period of dormancy, allow the light to dwindle naturally, gradually reduce temperature to 45-50 degrees, stop feeding, and limit water to keep the growing medium moist. Once the leaves are completely black, the plant will be ready to resume growth in March, allowing it to return to its usual habitat and routine.
Are Venus flytraps hard to keep alive?
Venus fly traps are best grown indoors for their unique behavior study. They require 12 hours of light daily, with at least 4 hours of bright, direct sunlight. Watering is recommended using rainwater, either by setting up a rain barrel or leaving a container outdoors. If rainwater is unavailable, use distilled water. Avoid watering from the top of the pot and place the pot into a small dish of water, about 1 cm deep per watering. These specific conditions make Venus fly traps easier to care for and study.
Are Venus flytraps good house plants?
The traps of these plants thrive in full sun, with at least six hours of direct light. They can be grown indoors or in a terrarium under grow lights, but they thrive outdoors. If grown indoors, provide winter dormancy. Water is crucial for the plants, and they should be kept in a saucer with distilled or purified water. Avoid flooding the tops with water, as they do not appreciate it. Use distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water only, as they are sensitive to water quality.
These plants are warm-temperate, requiring warm summers and chilly winters. They thrive in temperatures ranging from 20 degrees to 90 degrees and can take a freeze or high temperature spike up to 100 degrees for a brief period.
Should Venus Flytrap be indoors or outdoors?
It is inadvisable to cultivate flytraps indoors due to their requirement for sunlight and their tendency to enter a state of winter dormancy. They are better suited to growth in outdoor environments, where they can flourish in container plants or bog gardens.
Is it good to have a Venus flytrap in your house?
Venus fly traps are low-maintenance houseplants that are excellent kitchen companions and love bright, humid spaces. They require sunlight, water, and soil for proper care. Venus fly traps are carnivorous and can go for long periods without eating insects. If growing outdoors, they can eat naturally. Indoors, they need to feed small bugs like flies and beetles every so often. If you don’t have them in your yard, you can find them at a pet-supply shop or bait-and-tackle if you live on the coast or near a popular fishing area.
Feed a fly trap insects about a third of its size for ideal digestion. Despite their carnivorous eating habits, Venus fly traps should not eat any meat or other human foods, sticking to small insects only.
How long do Venus flytraps live indoors?
It is possible to maintain a Venus flytrap indoors for approximately 20 years with the correct care, but it is essential to allow the plant to enter a dormant phase each winter in order to ensure its longevity. For further information on the care of plants, please see the section on Alocasia (Elephant’s Ear) and Calathea plants grown indoors.
How to keep Venus flytrap alive indoors?
Venus flytrap, a native of the Carolina coastal plain, has become endangered due to its habitat. However, commercially grown plants do not affect native populations. Venus flytraps thrive in USDA zone 7 and colder climates. To maintain a healthy Venus flytrap, it requires strong light, pure water, and plenty of food. The plant does not need dormancy indoors, but winter dormancy may benefit it. Other unusual conditions include sensitivity to the growing medium, need for live food, and intolerance of tap water.
To re-pot Venus flytraps, remove the protective plastic cover and follow its requirements in the Re-potting section. Light is crucial for maintaining a healthy Venus flytrap, with full, direct sunlight from a southern exposure being the best. Artificial light may be necessary, especially in low light months. Small Venus flytraps can be kept on a single horticultural LED light for 12 to 16 hours per day. Without the right light, the plant will deteriorate quickly.
Should I touch my Venus flytrap?
The Venus flytrap, like other carnivorous plants, employs a flush of color to attract insects. It is advisable to refrain from touching the plant in the event that an insect lands on its leaves.
📹 Carnivorous Plants | tour and care, unique houseplants for your collection
My carnivorous plants and their care! I’m pretty new to carnivorous plants, but I thought I’d share my experience with them so far.
I know this article came out a few weeks ago but if this helps out anyone at all then that’s great. I work at a large government funded greenhouse and we have an amazing carnivorous plant collection, and here are a couple of things that I learned that may help when it comes to feeding/fertilizing carnivorous plants. 1. Never apply fertilizer to the growing medium, you will burn the roots. The whole reason they evolved to be carnivorous is because they are usually native to nutrient deficient areas. 2. What you can do if they are not catching any bugs is dilute any fertilizer you are using to a very small concentration and use it as a foliar spray. This works because it doesn’t come into contact with the roots, but do not do it very often. As Benji said, they will do pretty okay without any feeding, but this will help them grow. 3. For pitcher plants, you can drop a single slow release fertilizer pellet in the pitcher. This is plenty of food for the plant, and will keep it fed for quite a while. 4. This isn’t really about fertilizing, but be very patient. The carnivorous plant greenhouse is climate controlled by a computer to consistently maintain perfect humidity and temperature, and we have had pitcher plants that throw a tantrum and don’t produce pitchers for two years after being repotted and placed in the greenhouse. It will acclimate, it just takes time.
The spider living in your Sarracenia is somewhat of a symbiotic relationship: even though the plant doesn’t digest the insects itself, it still gets nutrient from the spider’s waste This remind me of the tiniest frog ever discovered that lives in a Nepenthes. Its name is the Microhyla borneensis and it is a fingernail big. Adorable !!
I noticed at 4:02 in the article a close-up of the Venus flytrap. I had the same thing happen. Small traps developing with some not opening fully and some traps not developing at all. I realized my potting mix had added fertilizer and accidently used some potting soil mix with fertilizer. Had to start over with soil mix and used only organic Canadian peat moss. It worked great. You do have a lovely collection. I really admire your ability.
Benji, you’re such an inspiration for plant lovers! 😭 I am in awe of the intersection of plant care and styling here, it’s really genius. You have such a great eye and taste level which I rarely happen upon, and I’m so very pleased to have discovered you, and also kinda disappointed in myself for not finding you sooner lmao
They’re definitely easier than I expected! My drosera got aphids and after treating it 3/4 times and completely getting rid of all of its sap, it just continued to grow like crazy. I also have made some mistakes with my pinguicula (twice) and it recovered very easily both times. It’s even flowering now, while still recovering lol
I got my Pinguicula from the clearance isle as they were about to throw it out, as it looked horrible. I have it for several years now. It sits on the south side window sill and gets tap water. It’s saucer is always full. It gave me several babies over the years and blooms throughout the entire year. A really fun and pretty plant to keep.
New subbie here! I am so glad I found your website based on my recc list. Binge watched your website this past week and it’s been such a pleasure to see how you’ve created your very own ecosystem and oasis of calm with you plant collection 🙏🏼 I can’t wait to get a carnivorous plant into my collection, the sundews seem to be my favorite looking so far 💕 thank you for sharing and I can’t wait to see another article featuring theo 💕🥹 he is the cutest puppp
A place like Portland, Oregon’s water supply is essentially rainwater that gets purified through a temperate rainforest. It takes FIFTY years for water pipes in Portland to lime up. The pipes in Los Angeles can lime up in as little as twenty years because the source of the water is heavily mineralized Colorado River water.
You did a great job covering these wonderful plants! I grow them for a few years now and I have a great experience with them, also I’d like to mention that while some drosera species do well without any feeding, some species such as D.Burmanni actually can die if not feed enough after flowering (and some others during seedling age if they aren’t feed) though from the 100+ drosera species only 8-15 does it if I remember right. Also with seed planting, don’t bury the seeds, they germinate to sunlight, when planting seeds simply pour the seeds on the top of the soil and if they receive enough sunlight they will develop if they are fertile (droseras and their sister plants venus flytraps normally has the shortest time to develop into a seedling but it can vary based on species and environment)
Mine are coming soon. I am happy to say that this is not my first time having these plants and I am not as happy to say that this is not my first time having these plants. My issue is probably the water. I know that I am going to use the distilled water b/c I can get a gallon for 99 cents if I go to the right supermarket. I do have a filter though I don’t know if it takes out enough of the minerals. I will say since I started using the filtered water over the past 3-4 years, my plants have done a lot better regarding how they absorb the water. I am late for seeing this article and I agree with you regarding them being discussed. I feel like these and air plants don’t get the respect they deserve. Either way, this is a great article and I am happy I watched. When mine arrive soon I will refer to your article for care. Have a great day!
Great article! I really like carnivorous plants. They look cool and also has a function in the home in catching bugs and flies. I have realized recently that carnivorous plants isn’t too difficult. The first ones I had died pretty quick because I watered with regular tap water and probably gave not enough light. Then I bought some new small plants and a growing light and distilled water. And now I have had them for over a year and I guess they are happy since they grow new leafs or traps continuously and are much bigger or fuller than when I bought them. And I must say in the beginning the carnivorous element of the plant was just a novelty or a fun thing but then I realized they are very useful in a home in catching small flies. I have two sticky plants and you can see many small flies caught by the sticky leafs or traps. Also I feel it’s hard to over water these plants. I water two times a week and it’s usually always some water in the bottom of the pot and I have read some people always have their pot in maybe 1/3 of an inch of standing water so the soil is always moist. The soil can never dry out. Also from my understanding if you feed them they won’t grow traps as fast or much since the plant then “knows” it has enough traps to catch food. So basically starve your plant from “food” if you want many traps. Anyway Venus flytraps are cool but I like the pitcher style plants the most!
I love carnivorous plants. I live in Hawaii and have a huge pitcher plant that loves lots of dappled full sunlight (it’s with other plants on a shelf under a palm tree). I keep the pot in beautiful raku bowl with rocks that I fill with distilled water whenever necessary (generally daily). I also had a corpse flower, but I had difficulties with finding it’s “happy place”, so I gave it to someone else to care for so that it could thrive. I plan on adding to my collection, but shipping is sometimes prohibitive.
Hello Benji, I too have been purchasing carnivorous plants and now have two. I’ve been interested in them all my life so I think it’s about time to get with it! I must say you are the one who inspired me because as you said. there isn’t that much attention that has been given to them. All I would see would be these sad and mostly dying Venus Fly Trap plants that were in a plastic container and lid. No real instructions and I just knew they had a very limited life so I never purchased one. The ones I own is the Ceropegia ampliata from Steve’s Leaves and the Nepenthes St. Gays from Gabriela’s Plants. They are both online sellers and Gabriela’s grows their own plants. I’m pretty sure Steve’s may do the same. I’ve been giving them distilled water but I’m confused now because they both came in a substrate if coco coir. I wonder if I should repot them in Sphagnum Moss and water such as you showed in your article. Btw. I have bags of Sphagnum Moss I used to mount my Staghorn Ferns so I do have a lot left over. I’m most curious as how to grow my own as you do. Is there an online shop to purchase any live Sphagnum Moss to get started? Thank you so much for all your informative articles! You’ve been such an inspiration to me! Helen
This is such an inspiring article. I love your aesthetic and appreciation for the smaller details, especially the live moss. Such a great idea. Do you think it is feasible to use it with other houseplants? My concern is that my climate (colder than yours but not necessarily drier) might not be ideal. Btw, I went to the link provided for buying live moss and couldn’t find it with that grower. It’s hard to come by apparently.
I have never got my carnivorous plants to live more than 3 months 🙁 but I live in brasil and in a city with super low humidity. It’s very hard to even get any tips on how to take care of them in my circumstances. I loved this article and I think I’ll try finding something like that ikea cabinet and grow lights that fit my necessities
2:37 This species is likely F. vulgaris. I have bought the same species in spring this year and the flowers are equal in shape and colour to yours^^ It is also a native plant to my home country of germany 🙂 7:40 The problem of the pot heating up can be solved by, like you mentioned, putting the plants in open pots and than in standing water (best case is rain water, since they don’t like water with CaCO3). This way there is nothing to heat up and damage the roots. But the water loss is higher this way. So depends what Problem you rather have to Deal with xD One question: Do you check for air moisture? Because I try to keep my sundew and my “Fat herb” Frangicula between 50-70% moisture
I had a venus flytrap that sat on my kitchen window sill. One day I notice a daddy-long-legs crawling around amongst the stems but avoiding the heads. (traps) I thought it was a one time thing, but many times I noticed it was back, just camped out in the plant waiting for a snack to steal. I found it quite interesting and entertaining. 😂
u can water any carnviorous plant with tap water if ur hardness is under 100ppm however i would still water with reverse osmosis/rainwater/distilled water often so minerals dont build up. my water is 60ppm in my area and my nepnethes is doing great, grew faster actually! my venus flytrap, sarraencia and sundew is outdoors in dormancy atm so i cant say how they respond yet. i live in calderdale in uk btw
I wonder how detailed studies have been on which specific species need which specific minerals at which specific low levels? I’d love to have a few small carnivores in certain boggy or hydroponic zones in my paludarium, but I really don’t want to fork over the money for a really nice dwarf variety sundew or something without knowing it’ll live.
Hello, so this article was pretty well perfect for me, considering I couldn’t find much online on growing these guys indoors. A couple of questions I’ve got after my first purchase of a Sarracenia oreophila last week that I’ve added to my collection of indoor plants: I’ve done a ton of reading about how its very beneficial to the life of the plant, if you give them a winter dormancy period for about 2.5-3 months from december- late february. I’ve read to do this, you literally lower down the watering to a fraction of what it got before, seal it in a bag, and put it in the fridge for 2.5 months, coming back to then trim all the dead leaves off, and essentially start fresh for a new season. Is this something you’ve read about at all or have done? Secondly, I noticed that you actually water the plants… Most every where I’ve seen has told me to stick the pot in about a third of the pots height in standing water, which I’ve done as I’ve noticed my little Sarracenia doesn’t seem to happy off the bat. I just was curious especially considering that I don’t use moss in my pots, if you think for indoor growth, its better to keep it out of standing water? Great info in this article, and thank you!
I got a pitcher plant from my local nursery and i watered it with distilled water and kept it in the windowsill but it just started to die on me, so i chopped off all its pitchers (they were black and crispy) and i threw the dead looking stump in a large ziplock and have been watering it with tap water, its thriving now. Its huge. So idk what happened but i got lucky
This is so strange, it must be fate! I have had fungus gnats since my interest in houseplants, I have been perusal Youtube articles on how to prevent them/do’s and don’ts of house plants and right as the next article was going to come on (this one) my boyfriend comes up to me and tells me he’s just bought 2 carnivorous plants…!!!!! XD I don’t know what to say, other than those plants are going to an all-you-can-eat buffet. As for the article itself, I love your set-up your choice of plants (I’m jealous:chillwcat:), environment and your aesthetic! Your voice was nice to listen to and your article was very informative, thank you ^^:virtualhug:
I have a Pitcher Plant which is doing great and Saracinnia like yours, I think I read they do need a dormant period and mine did lose flowers but their back now because I put it outside. I live up north so maybe that’s why just wondering if you know anything about that or how long have you had it . Tfs very lovely 🌵
You should use distilled water for yourself as well. My mother used it for three years on my advice and she was able to do needlepoint again, her pain was gone. My mother suffered from adult arthritis. The misshapen fingers remained the same, maybe a little less swollen, but they gave her no pain for the rest of her life.
They are super cool indeed. Do you clean off all the dead fungus gnats and bugs? Just wondering. I probably can’t grow any in my space since I live in SF, and we don’t get much sun. Ha, I could get a grow light for them, but I am not sure about that yet. I will just admire your collection for now :).
i find it weirdly charming that drosera (sundews) and drosophila (fruit flies) have such similar names considering one eats the other. i looked it up and dros- just comes from greek for dew, making drosophila mean “dew loving.” funny coincidence that the one named -phila is the one thats consumed between these two, usually its the other way around. guess it makes sense since the fake dew is the bug bait, but on paper drosophila being the one eaten by drosera has a little bit of irony.
I tried CP’s for years but I always felt that they were barely hanging on. Like they lived and put up traps but if literally anything minor went wrong the plants got very angry and would put up a trap or would look like they were trying to die. Eventually I gave up because I had kept them all alive for 5 years but they were not looking as good as I wanted them too. I still have a nepenthes that is doing amazing. My opinion is that you can use tap water for the majority of your “COMMON” napenthese and they will not have any issues. I really do think that CP’s are very hard to grow indoors other than sundews. The american pitcher plants just do not like growing under a growlight because they grow so tall they end up touching the light and burning themselves. The VFT’s just need way to much sunlight to grow at their fullest. Even the ones in your article look like they are surviving but not thriving because the traps and leaves are relatively small and thin compaired to what you find outside in nature. I live on the coast of north carolina where you can find these guys outside (still have too know where to look in order to find them) but the leaves should be about twice as thick and the traps about a third as large as the ones you have if they are truely thriving.
Good afternoon Benji, help I love to grow this carnivorous plants but I really don’t know what to do .. I have been following you seen last yr and I watch all yr article love them all … my plants growing quiet well but I wanted to try the carnivorous pls help me tks …love the purple flowers can pls help me how to start. From Singapore 🇸🇬 pls teach me how to grow yr own moss.
Hi Benji, Do you have any recommendations for watering for those of us that don’t use live spaghnum? Do they need to be moist at all times? Do they need a drying out period? Ive heard leaving them in a small tray of water before… I really love pings but they don’t love me😄. I’ve had better luck with droseras but can’t figure out pings. I’ve killed 2 maybe🙈
Hi Benji! This has really helped a lot. I got a sundew about a month ago and I noticed she doesn’t have the sticky dew drops anymore. I’ll try your method or having a no drainage hole dish with moss and increasing the plant’s light exposure. She’s originally in soil. How would I go about switching her to moss? I don’t want to shock her too much. Ty!! Also is there a difference between Sphagnum moss and Sphagnum Peat moss (long fiber). They look similar but I wanted to double check.
People forget that Carnivores plants grow out under the sunlight in the wild typicly aside from hanging south amarica variants who differ a little but none the less things like the sundew live in the wild whare I am a they grow somewhat in patches by ponds or lakes to catch maquitos and newly hatched larvay
i have a vft i bought fom bunnings a year ago and it’s been doing great. i wanna get more carnivorous plants but I cant find any T_T and unfortunately I cant use the sources u provided bc I live on an island (australia) ahhhh ;-; edit: does anyone reading this know where I can get more carnivorous plants (other than vft) in aus?
I have few carnivorous plants, one sun dew and one pitcher plant (had an Akai Ryu nut it may have rotted away..oops) .. In my little research I saw that you have help them into dormancy, do you do any of that or have they been fine without ( I didn’t with my sun dew and it is doing fine fortunately but I would like to care for it better)
I’ve recently gotten 3 carnivorous plants I was so happy and have been catching flys for them but I have a dog and when I went outside so check on them I found out that my dog got my plants from the table and killed them I really love plants but can’t have them because of this reason she already killed 3 of my plants does anyone has any tips for her to stop doing this?
i highly doubt that that filter is an revered osmosis filter. revers osmosis neds a really high pressure to be able to push the water through a semi-permeable membrane. the pressure in the tap is not enough i think that and they do need to be emptied off the salts being collected on the inlet side of the membrane… that is more likely to be deionizing water filter. “Purer” than regular tap, but still not reversed osmosis.