How to care for a Venus Flytrap

Who knew that sticky, sneaky and freaky plants are good to have around the house? Carnivorous plants are pretty self-sufficient and easy to care for but most people make the mistake of giving them too much love.

Venus Flytraps are one of the most popular carnivorous plants and widely sold across the world – including at the Plants with Bite display in The Calyx.
To keep your Venus’ Flytrap happy, give it lots of light, sit it in a shallow water tray and only feed it live insects. If you grow your plant indoors, a sunny windowsill is best as these plants love light. Water is also important, particularly in summer when the pot can dry out quickly.

Less is best

Keep your plant sitting in water from spring till autumn. In winter, your plant’s growth will stop and the leaves may turn black. This is completely normal as the plant survives the cold winter with swollen corm under the soil surface. Keep it damp during this time and when it bursts back into growth in spring, resume normal watering. Your plant may also flower in spring. Some people cut the flower spike off which can encourage more leaves but this is not critical.

Yummy bugs

Feeding your plants with live insects is fun but not essential for the plant’s survival. Your plant produces chlorophyll and therefore is able to photosynthesise like most other plants. Your plant will grow better if it is fed with live insects and it’s important that these are not sprayed with insecticide as this could kill your plant.

Hungry for more?

Go on an audio journey with me in the Branch Out episode ‘Plants with Bite’ below and discover more about the different tactics that carnivorous plants use to catch their prey.

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