Growing Venus Fly Trap Is Easier Than You Think — Here's How (2024)

About Venus Flytrap

Venus flytrap grows in a narrow geographic range; it is native only to North and South Carolina. The "trap" of a Venus fly trap is actually a modified leaf. A plant can have as many as eight of them arising from flat stems (technically part of the leaf) around a basal rosette.

This leaf/trap consists of two lip-like lobes united by a hinge. Nectar within the trap is the bait that draws an insect in to its death. Once inside, if the insect makes contact with one of the trigger hairs, the trap is sprung: It closes, shutting up the prey inside. After digestion, the "jaws" reopen.

Venus Fly Trap Care

The Venus fly trap is best grown as an indoor potted houseplant, where it will be more convenient for you to study its strange behavior. It is no harder to care for than many other houseplants, but it does require specific conditions.

Light

Venus fly traps should be placed in a location where it will receive 12 hours of light daily during the growing season from spring to fall. Aim for at least 4 hours of this to be bright, direct sunlight.

Water

It is better to water Venus fly trap with rainwater than tap water. Set up a rain barrel or leave a container outdoors to collect the rainwater. In the absence of rainwater, use distilled water. Avoid watering from the top of the pot and opt to place your Venus fly trap's pot into a small dish of this water, about 1 cm deep per watering.

Fertilizing

Do not fertilize Venus fly traps, as they perform best in soil that is low in nutrients. just like its native bog environment. Venus fly traps get all of their necessary nutrition from sunlight and from insects they consume, and fertilizers will be too harsh and loaded with chemicals for these delicate plants.

Temperature and Humidity

Venus fly traps prefer warm temperatures between 70 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, but survives temperatures as low as 40 degrees if properly protected. They also prefer humid environments with good air flow, so consider using a humidifier in your space, and running a small fan to keep air moving.

Types of Venus Flytraps

Plant developers have produced many cultivars of this unusual plant. Playing up the bizarre nature of the Venus fly trap, the cultivars sport colorful names. These cultivar names are also often highly descriptive, focusing on a particular feature that distinguishes the cultivar from the many others. Examples include:

• Dionaea 'Petite Dragon': One of the smallest Venus fly traps, its traps measure just half of an inch across.
• Dionaea 'Ginormous': At the other end of the spectrum, this cultivar's traps measure 2.25 inches across.
• Dionaea 'DC All Red': The greatest distinction between one type of Venus fly trap and another is color-based. Most have traps with at least some green in them, and some are all green. Others have some combination of red, yellow, green, or purple in them. 'DC All Red' is entirely red.

Feeding a Venus Fly Trap

If you live in a location with warm temperatures year-round and are able to grow your Venus fly trap outside, it will catch enough insects to feed itself. When grown indoors, as is more common, you may need to provide it with some meals. However, Venus fly traps won't consume insects until they're healthy and have all of their needs met, so focus first on creating the right growing conditions for a healthy plant.

Once your plant is healthy, occasionally provide it with live insects. After gently dropping an insect into the open trap, you'll need to gently stimulate the trigger hairs to ensure healthy digestion, using a finger, a toothpick, or another tool.

Potting a Venus Fly Trap

Because Venus fly traps are fickle about their growing conditions, it's essential to know how best to plant them, the type of soil they need, and how often you should be repotting them to keep them thriving. Using all-purpose houseplant soil or planting methods will likely cause your Venus fly trap to die.

What Kind of Soil Is Best?

Venus fly traps thrive in wet, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. To recreate it indoors, use a 1:1 mixture of peat moss and perlite. A combination of soil mix with peat moss, or horticultural sand with an equal amount of peat moss also works well. Wood-based materials such as bark, sawdust, or wood fiber are good sustainable alternatives to peat moss because they also have a low pH. Just make sure that the wood hasn't been chemically treated. Coir, a sustainable alternative to peat moss, is not suitable because its pH is close to neutral.

Type of Pot

The best type of pot for a Venus fly trap is one made of fiberglass or plastic. Ceramic, glass, and especially terrarium-style containers are best to avoid. The pot doesn't need to be particularly wide, but providing decent depth is helpful. Four inches deep is a minimum, but deeper is better, up to 12 inches.

When to Repot

Venus fly traps grow best if they're repotted every 6 to 12 months. This provides them with a fresh, healthy growing medium, as their containers and soil will have accumulated harmful chemicals, minerals, and weeds naturally over time.

To repot Venus fly trap, use a pot that is at least 4 inches deep. Fill it with an equal mixture of peat moss and perlite and poke a hole in the center that is large enough to hold the plant's roots. Grabbing the venus trap by the root ball (not by the traps), place it in the hole. Gently pat down the soil around the roots and water the plant deeply.

How to Propagate a Venus Fly Trap

The most dependable method to propagate Venus fly trap is division.

1. A mature plant will send up offshoots in the early spring. Remove them with a sharp knife or pruners, making sure they include roots.
2. Fill pots 4 to 5 inches wide and at least 6 inches deep with fresh peat-based growing medium. Poke a hole in the center of each pot.
3. Plant the offshoots in the holes. Water them well and keep the soil evenly moist at all times.
4. Place the pot where it will receive indirect light but avoid bright sunlight until the plant begins to develop new roots.

Overwintering Venus Fly Traps

The plant goes through a period of dormancy beginning in fall when the hours of daylight and sunlight levels decrease. It will lose its leaves and appear to die, but it actually lives on underground through rhizomes. This is normal, and you should not try to make up for the reduction of daylight hours by giving the plant artificial light.

Keep the plant in the coolest room of your home and cut back on the amount of water. Give it just enough water so the soil does not dry out completely. In the early spring when it starts regrowing, resume the regular watering schedule to keep it moist at all times.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

Aphids and fungus gnats do occasionally bother Venus fly trap despite it being an insect-eater itself. These pests are too tiny for the plant to capture and eat. Horticultural oil or insecticidal soap provides some control for a severe aphid infestation. Apply Bacillus thuringiensis (Bti) as a natural control for fungus gnats.