Care for venus flytrap


A Complete Care Guide for Dionaea

Without a doubt the most famous carnivorous plant, the Venus Flytrap is - for many growers - a gateway drug! Charles Darwin famously described the plant as "one of the most wonderful in the world," and few who have witnessed a healthy trap snapping shut on an insect would disagree.

Venus Flytraps attract prey using sweet nectar. Touch a trigger hair twice, or two hairs in quick succession, and an electric charge closes the trap, its interlocking teeth forming a cage. The insect's struggles will seal the trap, at which point digestive enzymes dissolve the victim's soft tissues. The trap reabsorbs this nutritious soup, and - after about a week - reopens, using the carcass to attract new visitors.

The Venus Flytrap's reputation for being difficult to grow is undeserved. Follow this guide and you'll soon be growing huge, healthy specimens of this magnificent plant.

Let's get started!

  1. Where do Venus flytraps come from?
  2. Growing Locations
  3. Soil & Water
  4. Winter Dormancy
  5. Flowers and Seeds
  6. Feeding your Flytrap
  7. Cultivars & Mutations
  8. Buying Venus Flytraps
Your browser is out-of-date and cannot play this video. Please update your browser An adult Venus Flytrap catches two flies at once!

2. Growing Locations for Venus Flytraps

Venus Flytraps need direct sunlight for healthy growth. If you’re growing your plant indoors choose a bright sunny windowsill - preferably south-facing if you’re in the UK. Insufficient sunlight will cause your flytrap’s leaves to become weak and spindly. Most forms of the Venus Flytrap will tell you they’re receiving sufficient sunlight by turning the insides of their traps red.

Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) growing very happily in full sun on windowsills.

They do not require a terrarium to grow, although they can appreciate the higher humidity of the enclosed environment. They can be happy in terrariums provided you respect their winter dormancy requirements and provide sufficient light. Artificial lighting can work well, particularly high-powered fluorescents such as T5 growlights.

Venus flytraps grow extremely well in conservatories and unheated greenhouses. Temperatures in the Carolinas frequently hit 30°C (86°F) during summer and drop below 0°C in in the winter (32°F), and so Venus Flytraps are perfectly happy in the UK climate provided they are protected from the elements.

Note that most Venus Flytraps produce different kinds of leaves throughout the growing season. Those produced at the start and end of the growing season (spring and autumn) tend to be lower-growing with heart-shaped petioles, while those produced in summer are held up higher on narrow, elongated petioles.

3. Soil & Water for Venus Flytrap

The traditional compost mixture for Venus Flytraps is sphagnum peat moss mixed with either lime-free horticultural sand or perlite, to a ratio of about 2:1. For UK readers, I sell bags of an excellent ready-made Venus flytrap soil on my shop. Alternatively, you can buy this compost mix on Amazon worldwide.

An alternative peat-free growing media is pure long fibre sphagnum moss. I’ve had good success growing my own flytraps in pure sphagnum, and while it can be more expensive than a peat-based mix, I’d highly recommend trying this sustainable approach.

During the growing season, you should stand the pot in about 1 cm of water (about ⅓ inch) and avoid watering from the top. They prefer to grow in soil which is wet, but not completely waterlogged. During winter they require less water, and the soil should be kept just damp.

Venus flytraps growing in a water tray.

Another critical point which is often overlooked: Venus Flytraps need pure water. Like many other carnivorous plants, they evolved to grow in damp, low-nutrient soil, and giving them bottled, filtered, or tap water can result in a build-up of minerals that will eventually kill your Venus Flytrap. You should avoid fertilisers for similar reasons. Your best options are rainwater, distilled or deionised water, or water produced by a reverse osmosis system. I’ve outlined your options in more detail here.

4. Winter Dormancy

Venus Flytraps require a cold winter dormancy between November and February. You need to mimic the conditions of their natural habitat, which means providing a cold resting period. Much like you need to sleep every night, Venus Flytraps need to go dormant over winter!

Venus flytraps entering winter dormancy, photographed by fellow grower Megan (@carnivorous_plant_girl)

If you grow your plants on a windowsill or in a terrarium during the growing season, you will need to move them somewhere colder - sit them next to a window in your garage or shed, for example. Plants growing in unheated greenhouses can remain there over winter.

As the days shorten and the temperature drops, your plant’s leaves will start to turn black and your plant will die back to the rhizome. This is normal, and you can safely trim off any dead growth. The end of the winter dormancy period is a good opportunity to repot - and even divide - your plants if they require it before growth begins in March. A 10 cm (4 inch) pot is sufficient for adult plants.

5. Venus Flytrap Flowers & Seeds

Fully grown Venus Flytraps flower in Spring, but unless you intend to harvest seed, you should cut off the flower stalk once it’s reached about 5 cm tall. Flowering can be exhausting for Venus Flytraps, and most plants will grow more vigorously during summer if prevented from flowering.

A flower bud emerging on a Venus Flytrap.Close up of a Venus Flytrap flower.

What about seeds?

Growing Venus flytraps from seed takes a lot of patience! It takes many years for seedlings to reach adult size, and for inexperienced growers it can sometimes be challenging to keep them alive. What’s more, eBay and Facebook are awash with fake seeds and scams! If you’d like to give it a try, always buy seed from a reputable specialist nursery. I sell Venus flytrap seed kits on my shop, as well as seed variety packs containing a mixture of less-challenging species.

If you wish to sexually propagate your own Venus Flytrap by collecting and sowing seeds, I recommend reading this article by Flytrapcare.com.

6. Feeding your Venus Flytrap

If grown outside, Venus Flytraps will catch more than enough food for themselves. If you keep your plants indoors then you can feed them with dead or live insects, but you should do so only once you’ve taken care of all their other growing requirements.

In order for Venus Flytraps to properly digest prey, the trigger hairs need to be stimulated after the trap has closed - this is to prevent the plant from wasting energy trying to digest non-edible matter which may have fallen into the trap. After dropping a dead insect into a trap, you can stimulate the trigger hairs with a toothpick, or by gently massaging the sides of the trap with your fingers.

If it’s time to feed your plant, check out my guide to feeding Venus Flytraps, in which I recommend a variety of suitable and easily-available foods.

7. Venus Flytrap Cultivars & Mutations

There is only one species of Venus Flytrap: Dionaea muscipula. The hundreds of varieties you can find for sale are bred horticulturally, and are known as cultivars.

All Venus Flytraps consist of a small rosette of leaves (called petioles), each of which ends in a trap. The traps of adult plants are typically around 2.5 cm in length, but can reach up to 5 cm in some of the giant varieties.

Dionaea cultivars, top: the all-green 'Justina Davis', the fine-toothed 'Sawtooth', the popular mutant 'Fused Tooth', and the huge 'Slack's Giant'. Bottom: the all-red 'Akai Ryu', and the bizarrely deformed 'Alien'.

Cultivars are generally selected for colour, size, or mutation. The first group, particularly the all-green and all-red forms, are among the most popular. These include Dionaea ‘Justina Davis’, which remains completely green even in full sun, and Dionaea ‘Akai Ryu’ (also known as ‘Red Dragon’), which develops a striking maroon or burgundy colouration over the entire plant. Particularly large varieties include ‘Slack’s Giant’ and ‘South West Giant’, the latter of which originated right here in the UK.

Finally, there are the mutants. These are typically the result of tissue culture mishaps, and some are deformed to the point of being unable to catch prey. They are seemingly loved and hated in equal measure; while some growers enjoy the novelty, others find them grotesque!

8. Where can I buy a Venus flytrap?

You can buy healthy Venus flytraps right here on Tom’s Carnivores - just take a look at my online shop. I also sell compost, seeds, and carnivorous plant collections including ideal companions like Pitcher plants and Sundews. Delivery is via DPD’s next-day service and is available throughout the UK.

Plants bought from specialist carnivorous plant nurseries will typically be much stronger and more robust than those from hardware / DIY stores. You’ll also get much better advice on successful growing, and you’ll be supporting a small business!

A healthy Venus flytrap, photographed by Petr Novák.

Still want to learn more?

Buy The Savage Garden, by Peter D’Amato. In my opinion, this is the single best book on carnivorous plants you can buy today. Its chapters on Dionaea are brilliantly detailed and great for beginners. Available on Amazon.

FAQ: What should I feed my Venus flytrap?

26 April 2017

Short Answer

Probably nothing… yet.

If you want your Venus flytrap to be happy and grow big colourful traps, there are lots of things you should do before thinking about what to feed it for dinner.

It might sound boring, but your little plant will be much healthier with proper watering, lots of bright sunlight, and - in the longer run - a cold winter dormancy than with bits of food being dropped into its traps.

Once you’ve taken care of their basic growing requirements - or if you simply can’t wait any longer - read on…

Fun Answer

Venus flytraps are cool, and feeding them is fun. What’s more, even the healthiest plant will eventually slow down its growth if it doesn’t catch any prey. If your plant lives outdoors, or if you can put it outside on sunny days, then it will catch all the food it needs without your help. But if you really want to feed your plant yourself, then there are 5 important things to bear in mind:

  1. Don’t give your plant anything it wouldn’t catch naturally. That means no chocolate, chicken, or other human food. Bugs only!

  2. Don’t give your plant fertiliser or any other normal ‘plant food’ - like most carnivorous plants, they prefer to grow in nutrient-poor soil.

  3. Closing a trap requires a lot of energy, so don’t trigger them if you aren’t feeding them. For the same reason, don’t overfeed your plant - one trap per week is more than enough.

  4. Don’t feed your plant anything that’s larger than about 1/3 the size of the trap - it needs to fully seal to digest its meal, and so prey which is too large may rot the trap, causing it to turn black.

  5. Digestion only starts if the trap’s trigger hairs are stimulated after it has closed. If you’re using a dead bug, use a toothpick or cocktail stick to gently ’tickle’ the hairs through the gaps after the trap’s closed over the prey. It’ll soon seal shut.

Next up, the menu!

The best foods for your Venus flytrap:

The Venus flytrap menu: mealworms, bloodworms, and crickets. View on Amazon.

All three of these foods are suitable for other carnivorous plants as well as Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula). Bloodworms are ideal for almost all species, particularly sundews (Drosera) and butterworts (Pinguicula), while mealworms and crickets are often good for larger pitcher plants (Sarracenia and Nepenthes).

An all-red cultivar of the Venus flytrap awaiting its next meal.

How often should you feed a Venus flytrap?

If you’ve taken care of all its other needs, you can safely feed a Venus flytrap every month of the growing season. Simply pop bugs into 3 or 4 large open traps, stimulate the hairs as described above, and your plant will thank you for it!

Do venus flytraps need live food?

While Venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants will gratefully accept live insects, I’ve found it’s rarely worth the hassle. Mealworms have been known to burrow out of traps, and crickets move so quickly they can easily escape. Some growers purchase tubs of live crickets from specialist reptile or amphibian shops and place the container in the freezer for several minutes to ‘stun’ the bugs, making them easier to feed to their plants. But unless you’re insistent on a diet of live food, dried mealworms are often the best option (link).

Whatever you do, don’t forget to take care of their other needs first! For that, be sure to read my complete Venus flytrap growing guide or grab a copy of Peter D’Amato’s carnivorous plant “bible”, The Savage Garden. You might also want to subscribe to my email newsletter below to be notified when I publish my next article.

Happy growing!

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Care and cultivation of Venus Flytrap at home

Venus flytrap is an unusual, insectivorous plant that is increasingly winning the hearts of flower growers. Many gardeners are afraid to grow them because of the difficult care. But is it?!
Despite their popularity, the main reason why they die quite quickly in our homes is the lack of proper care. Of course, these are not the easiest plants to care for, but when you follow simple tips for flycatchers, they will be able to please you for a long time in the office or at home. It is interesting to know that some flycatchers, with proper care, can live up to 30 years.


There is only one type of flycatcher - Venus flytrap (lat. Dionaea muscipula) , you can often still hear the name Dionea. This name comes from the Latin name of the genus Dionaea . But, despite the fact that there are different varieties, most of them have identical care requirements. Varieties create personality with their appearance, some have large traps and others come in different colors.


Lighting.

Venus flytrap in its natural environment is found in wet swamps with poor light levels. But, since this plant initially grows in much more open places that receive a lot of direct sunlight, they should be provided with a sunny place.
Soil. Never use nutrient-rich flycatcher soil. Such soil will rather kill this plant than help it develop well. For planting and transplanting a flycatcher, a mixture of sand, peat moss, perlite or vermiculite is suitable. You can also buy the necessary soil mixture at flower shops.
Watering. Venus flytrap needs fairly moderate watering in the warm season. But in winter, the soil can be almost dry.
This plant also has special water requirements. Do not water the flycatcher with plain tap water. Tap water contains salts and other additional minerals, which, although beneficial to human health, are mostly toxic to these plants as they make the water alkaline. For watering flycatchers, rainwater, distilled or bottled water should be used.


Humidity .

When the air is very dry, flycatcher leaves dry up and look very unattractive. Therefore, a water pan should be used to increase the humidity. Some of the water will be used by the plant, but some of the water will evaporate, creating a slightly humid microclimate.
Fertilizers. Never feed a Venus flytrap fertilizer! This is not only unnecessary, but also potentially fatal. Being predatory, they collect all the necessary nutrients from flies and other small insects, which they catch and digest.


Temperature .

Normal room temperature is ideal for growing Venus Flytrap. They can also easily cope with a slight drop in temperature, especially during the cold season.


Transplant .

The general rule is that Dionea should be repotted once a year or every two years in spring or summer. If your plant has not filled the entire pot, then a transplant is not required. In this case, only the soil is updated.

Reproduction .

Propagating a Venus flytrap from seeds is not an easy task and this method of reproduction is not suitable for beginner flower growers.
The easiest way to propagate this plant is by daughter bulbs, which Dionea forms in the process of its growth. For propagation by bulbs, carefully, with a sharp knife, cut off the daughter bulb. It should be noted that it has a sufficient number of roots. The cut point on the mother bulb must be treated with crushed coal, which will prevent the appearance of rot. Then the daughter bulb is simply transplanted into a separate pot with prepared soil and watered. Since this plant is not fast growing, it will take time for it to grow.
Venus flytrap feeding. It is because of feeding that it causes such interest among flower growers. If your flycatcher grows on an open balcony, then it will catch insects on its own. If the plant grows indoors, then it should be fed no more than 1-2 times a month. One fly is digested by a flycatcher for 10-14 days. It is also interesting that if the plant is “full”, then it will “refuse” food.


Flowering .

Venus flytrap sometimes produces flowers. However, they do not add to the attractiveness of the plant. In fact, their appearance leads to the depletion of plant resources, and can negatively affect the production of leaves and traps. Therefore, when a peduncle appears, it is better to carefully cut it. But flowering is an indicator that your flycatcher is healthy and you are taking care of it properly.


Winter holidays.

In the cold season, most houseplants "rest". And the flycatcher will be no exception. In winter, it is preferable to lower the room temperature slightly. In addition, the amount of watering is reduced to 1-2 times a month. During this period, the growth of the plant practically stops, part of the foliage turns black and dies. But in the spring, as a rule, dead leaves are replaced by young ones.
When growing a Venus flytrap at home, it should be remembered that the trap has a limited "lifetime", which is 4-5 circuits. After that, the traps, although they carry out photosynthesis, no longer function as a trap.
Problems that may arise when growing a Venus flytrap. Like other indoor plants, the Venus flytrap can get sick. Major diseases can be prevented with proper care.
Spring growth is very slow and weak - this means that the flycatcher has not "rested" in winter. Skipping winter rest, in most cases, will simply kill the plant.
Also, the Venus flytrap can die from lack of light or water. Therefore, these agricultural practices should be carefully monitored. And even watering with ordinary tap water can kill the flycatcher. Therefore, use distilled or rain water for irrigation.


And remember that all plants need proper care. Therefore, do not neglect our advice, and the Venus flytrap will delight you with its unusual appearance for many years.

The main conditions for keeping the Venus Flytrap at home

The Venus Flytrap is not a tropical plant, it comes from North America, so it is quite easy to keep it at home, but you need to know that the Flytrap is very demanding on lighting and quality the water with which it is watered. She does not need high humidity, a constantly warm location, or a large number of insects, as many people think.
Read more...

Venus Flytrap Care | Dionea at home

Our shop offers a wide variety of exotic plants. The Venus flytrap, or dionea, is one of the most sought after options, and here's why:

Dioneya feels good at home: if you follow a few rules, there will be no problems with care. What can and cannot be done with a Venus flytrap - we will tell in this article.

Lighting

The Venus flytrap grows naturally in swampy areas on the east coast of the United States of America. Therefore, your task is to recreate these climatic conditions as much as possible.

You need to know!
In autumn and winter, the sun rarely appears, so the flycatcher needs additional lighting. Phytolamp is best suited for this purpose. It is not difficult to understand that a plant lacks light: its leaves stretch and lose their brightness.

Temperature and watering

Dionea is a heat-loving flower, therefore it grows well and develops at temperatures from 22 to 30 degrees Celsius. In summer, the flycatcher calmly tolerates higher temperatures, but if this regime is maintained throughout the year, the plant will not live long. In winter, the flower needs rest.

Let's say you have already chosen a place for a flycatcher pot. It's time to take care of its watering.

In winter, the plant must be sent for wintering!

How to choose soil and pot?

The choice of a pot is a matter of taste, but this plant looks most solemn in a white background. It is also often chosen in the case when a flower is bought not for themselves, but as a gift.

The beauty and health of a plant depends on the soil. Due to the inability to absorb minerals, the flycatcher prefers poor soils. It can be a mixture of peat and quartz sand (an alternative is perlite soaked in distilled water). In order not to buy the components separately and not to experiment with the proportions indicated on the Internet, we recommend that you purchase ready-made primer for dionea (it is always on sale).

This is important!
When choosing a pot, focus on the size of the plant. The container must not be too wide! As for color, light shades heat up less in the sun, which avoids overheating of the root system.
The correct pot must necessarily have drainage holes and a pan into which water is poured.

Dionea planting and transplanting: a look at the most popular options

The choice of variety depends on personal preference, but the most popular options are the typical form, large mouth and red dragon. Before placing an order, it is important to understand what exactly you need:

What do we do for you?

Your right is to choose any of the options offered, our task is to provide you with a quality product. Germination of seeds of carnivorous plants is about 70%. In practice, this means that 7 out of 10 potential plants will sprout. The second direction of our activity is the cultivation of Venus flytrap specifically for sale. We understand that our customers are located in various parts of Russia, and therefore we pay special attention to packaging and transportation conditions. In order to keep the plants warm on the way, we ship them between April and November, but this is not the only reason for choosing this interval. Many plants go dormant in winter. It is impossible to transplant flowers during this period. In spring and summer, we recommend using the following algorithm:

The soil does not need to be compacted to allow it to breathe better. Be sure to check for drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.

How long is the adjustment period?

Transplanting and changing places are stressful for any plant. The standard duration of the adaptation period is 1 month. At this time, it is very important not to move the plant from place to place and organize proper watering and additional lighting.

About flowering and eating

The flycatcher releases a peduncle. The flowers themselves are small, look like stars and smell pleasant, luring insects into a trap.

Interesting fact
Most plants require fertilizer during flowering and active growth. Here the situation is completely different: since the root system is not able to receive minerals from the soil, it synthesizes them on its own, but it will not be possible to solve the problem with a lack of nitrogen in this way.

The only source of nitrogen is stray insects that fall into its trap. If you take the pot out to the balcony in the spring and summer, the plant will cope with this task on its own, but you should not feed the flower with dead flies (if necessary, only live ones). Also, the flycatcher will not refuse mosquitoes and spiders.

Failure to follow these recommendations will result in the death of the trap due to the inability to properly digest food. The ideal "lunch" of a flower that eats flies takes up no more than 1/3 of the area of ​​the trap!

How does the flycatcher hibernate?

Preparation for hibernation begins around October, but it is necessary to remove the plant for wintering in November-December. It is not difficult to understand that the plant is preparing for hibernation: the flycatcher gives wide leaves, the traps, on the contrary, become small. Thus Dionea saves the roots from the cold.

At this time, it is important to reduce watering, but still do not allow the soil to dry out completely. If you forget about watering for a long time, the Dionea plant may not wake up.

Is it possible to revive the flycatcher?

The answer to this question depends on two factors: the degree of damage to the plant and the speed of your reaction. If the rhizome is painted white, the flycatcher can be saved. To do this, carefully remove the blackened parts of the plant and transplant it into a new pot with suitable soil. During the rehabilitation period, the flycatcher is especially in dire need of sunlight, so the presence of a lamp aimed at dionea 12 hours a day is a necessary condition.

The flycatcher rarely gets sick, however, if two factors coincide - waterlogging of the soil and low temperature - a fungus may appear on the roots, and gray rot may appear on the stem and leaves. This "infection" is treated with fungicides, which can be purchased at any store selling indoor plants. With timely detection of the problem, the chances of recovery are great. But the yellowing of the leaves indicates that you are watering the flycatcher with unsuitable water, such as tap water, or you have flooded the flower. Here it is important to realize the mistake in time and change hard water to distillate or normalize the irrigation regime.

Frequently asked questions

Venus flytrap is a beautiful and unusual predator, so it is often bought as a gift. Before making a purchase decision, we are asked a lot of questions. Here are the most common ones:

Is the Venus flytrap dangerous for humans?

Venus flytrap is completely safe for both humans and pets. Her only interest is small insects: spiders, mosquitoes, flies and midges. If a child touches the trap, nothing will happen to his finger: the leaves of the plant are soft, and the “juice” does not begin to be produced immediately. Just think, one insect can take up to 10 days to digest.

On the other hand, frequent “playing” with the flycatcher can lead to its death. Each closing of the trap is accompanied by a large expenditure of energy. If you “deceive” the flytrap infrequently, nothing terrible will happen - in a day or two it will open again, but such manipulations on an ongoing basis can destroy the plant. If you want to observe a "living organism", catch a fly and try to feed the flycatcher, while the insect must be alive.

Is it difficult to take care of carnivorous plants?

Your order comes with a detailed guide on how to take care of your Venus flytrap at home, so in most cases there are no problems. All a flycatcher needs is soft water and good (natural or artificial) lighting. With the capture of insects, the flycatcher, as a rule, does an excellent job on its own.

How long does a flycatcher live?

Venus flytrap is a perennial plant that can live for decades if properly cared for.

We will be glad if, after reading this article, you still decide to purchase this amazing flower. In our store, the most common and unpretentious plants, as well as everything you need to grow a flycatcher at home - special soil, seeds, pots.

We deliver all plants presented on the site in Russia. Residents of Moscow and the Moscow region can arrange courier delivery, as well as pick up a flower from our showroom.


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