Venus Flytrap - how I grow them

Much like most people, when I was a young child I was given a Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). I was in awe of this marvelous plant and I instantly gained a deep love of carnivorous plants and gardening in general. I spent hours staring at the plant, thinking big thoughts, and imagining all sorts of fantastic and impossible things.

Just the same as happens with most people, my first Venus flytrap died.

A few years later I got another one, I can't remember if I bought it or was given it. This time I was a little older and I read everything there was to read about them - which was limited to the high level information on the tag and a few old and poorly written books by people who I doubt had ever successfully grown one themselves. Again I spent many hours staring at that fascinating little plant, fussing over it, carefully removing dead leaves, and thinking big thoughts.

Sadly my second plant also died.

After that I thought Venus fly traps were too tricky to grow or we were in the wrong climate for them. I am happy to say that neither was true, Venus flytraps are actually very easy to grow if you know how and I was in the perfect climate for them.

Venus flytraps, easy to grow when you know how

A few years later when I had not yet started high school I bought a tiny sundew (Drosera capensis) from a fair for $0.50. I loved that plant. This plant lived for many years and from it I learned how to actually grow carnivorous plants successfully. After starting with one sundew and growing seeds and cuttings to end up with literally hundreds I decided to give the Venus flytrap another try.

I got a Venus flytrap bare rooted through the post.  This plant not only thrived but each spring would divide into a bunch of extra plants. I even grew a few from seed, which is a very slow but rather fun process. Then I went to university, got a job, moved a lot of times, and stopped growing carnivorous plants for years.

I have started to grow Venus flytraps again and am loving them. They are heaps of fun. There are so many new varieties now that never existed before.

I figured I should tell people how I grow Venus Flytraps and perhaps more people can enjoy growing them too. This may not be the best way to do things, but it works for me, it is cheap, and it is easy.

I find it simple to grow Venus flytraps: give them lots of clean water, give them sunlight, and don’t ever try to close the traps. That is simple enough.

Venus flytraps in a tray of water - honey bees like to sip water from the pots

A friend did a guest post on how to grow carnivorous plants.  I thought I would write about how I grow Venus Flytraps because I find it rather simple.

By far the most important thing to know is that they are swamp plants that need a lot of water. They need so much water that I sit the pot in a tray, usually an old ice cream container, which holds a centimeter or two of water. I make sure the water is at least 5cm below the surface of the soil, any higher than that and the plants get stressed, lower than that is fine. When this water level drops slightly I fill it up again. I usually fill it up each day when I am watering the vegetable garden. The water tray should never be dry, ever, even for a little while. I don’t water from the top, I just fill up that little tray to its arbitrary (yet constant) level.

Far too many people try to water these like a house plant - this doesn’t work and they will die pretty quickly. Others put a shallow saucer under them, this evaporates too fast and your plant will dry out and die. Use an ice cream container or an old yogurt container, they are free and perfect for the job.

I am told that, depending on what is in your water, town water could be bad for them. I don’t have town water, I have a rain water tank so don’t have any personal experience with this. Rain water is the best if that is available.

These traps are closed as it caught ants, spiders, and things by itself

The second most important thing to know about growing a Venus flytrap is never close the trap. Never close the trap with your finger no matter how fun that sounds, and don’t try to close it with food of any sort. The leaf traps can only open a few times and the more they are closed the faster that leaf will die. The less leaves your plant has the less likely it is to survive.

Don’t try to feed your Venus flytrap. If you know what you are doing feeding is ok, if you don’t know what you are doing you will likely kill your plant. If you knew how to feed them you wouldn't have read this far through this blog post aimed at beginners.  Let venus fly traps catch food for themselves, they know what they are doing. Well-meaning people often try to feed their Venus flytrap and this often kills them. I know you are trying to help, but you are probably killing it.

Wally Venus Flytrap - needs more sunlight

Carnivorous plants of any type are not indoor plants, Venus flytraps need direct sunlight. Putting your new plant in your office and having the ceiling light turned on is not the same as natural light. You already knew this - otherwise you would wear a hat and sunscreen at your desk while getting a massive tan. Placing Venus flytraps on a window sill that gets sun is good, having them outside is better.

When you get a plant it likely has been kept under shade cloth (or in complete darkness while being posted) so transition it into the sun slowly or the leaves will burn and your plant may die. Depending on where you live they may benefit from growing under shade cloth, if you don’t have any shade cloth then at least try to protect them from the afternoon sun. Afternoon sun in summer, especially in Australia, can be a bit too much for them.

Don't put venus flytraps in a terrarium. I don't know how many people have cooked these plants to death in terrariums. While they can survive in a terrarium if it is in just the right place, they will die very quickly if it is not.  I also don't see the need to put them in a terrarium.

Venus Flytrap entering dormancy - looks dreadful but is actually ok

Venus flytraps are strangely ok with frosts. Venus flytraps are not tropical plants.  I have heard that people in places without winter dig them up and put them in the fridge for a month over winter. Mine don’t grow much over winter, and they usually aren’t quite dormant either. The leaves die back and new growth is smaller and lower to the ground - this is normal. Over winter I lower the water (or ice) level in their tray so they don’t rot, but I never let them go dry. 

In spring if they are large enough to divide then you can divide them. If it is not ready to divide then just keep enjoying them until next year. You will know that they are ready because they will have multiple growing points and multiple plants crowded together.

To divide I remove it from the pot, gently pull the two or more plants apart, and plant them in damp peat moss. There are a few things you could use but I use peat moss mixed with some clean river sand as both are cheap and easy to get. When you open the bag it will be too dry, you need to soak it before you plant into it. To soak peatmoss I tip some into a bucket, add some water, and come back later and it is nicely soaked. I then grab handfuls of wet peatmoss out of the bucket and squeeze it a little so some of the water comes out. Some people rinse the peatmoss a few times to remove nutrients. I do this and it probably helps but you don’t have to do it.

Venus flytrap flowers

Often after surviving winter Venus flytraps will flower in spring if they are large enough. They send up a tall flower stalk with unimpressive white flowers on it. Many growers remove the stalk pretty early as flowering takes a lot of energy and it can be difficult to get them to produce any seed. If you do remove the stalk you can use that as a cutting to grow more Venus flytraps. I should write another post on how to take cuttings from Venus flytraps, it is easier than you may think.

I grow a few types of carnivorous plants including several different Venus flytraps. As I build up their numbers I plan to offer them through my for sale page. I can post them if needed, they sulk a little after posting but outside of winter they tend to perk up pretty fast.