Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula)

The Venus Flytrap is the plant most people want to start with, but it is the one many have difficulty with. It is not a tropical plant and comes from the same part of the world as the Sarracenias. The Venus Flytrap likes full sun-south facing windows or a conservatory but also needs a winter. If your house is heated, move the plant somewhere cooler for the winter.

It will flower prolifically, and unless you have had your plant for at least a year, we suggest you cut the flowers off as they appear. Otherwise, it will put a lot of energy into the flower instead of the traps, and unless it is a vigorous plant, it can suffer and even die after flowering.

Venus flytraps are not large plants and are best grown in pots in water trays or saucers of water. They can be grown outside (see Growing Carnivorous Plants Outside)

Watering    
Always use soft water, preferably rainwater. Venus flytraps are particularly sensitive to lime. If rainwater is unavailable, use distilled or de-ionised water, or maybe filtered water. Bottled mineral water may well contain high levels of lime and is unsuitable. Never use softened water. We keep ours standing in 2-4cm water from March through October and then damp through the winter. They stand in water – not over a gravel tray, and they do not need to be sprayed with water.

Feeding   
Never give any fertiliser through the root system. If the plant is grown in fly-free conditions, it is best to feed live insects into the trap during the growing season. Due to how they digest their prey, you must only feed them live insects. Dead ones will only cause rot. Each trap will catch around three insects and then die back; this is perfectly normal. And we never feed them artificially. They don’t catch a huge amount but will catch a nice variety, especially if put outside in the summer. If you have children, encourage them to catch something for their flytrap rather than poke it, as this will weaken the plant. They do not need feeding over winter.

Winter Care    
Venus flytraps are remarkably tough over winter. We have over-wintered one outside down to -10ºC. That may be a little extreme, but they do better with a cool rest, below around 7ºC. If kept too warm, they either struggle to grow or may rot at the root. The plant will be getting weaker. They start to look a bit ill in the autumn – traps going black and the plant not looking healthy. This might cause you to panic, put it somewhere warm, and feed it up, but this is the worst thing to do! Put it in an unheated room or cold greenhouse. Cut back on the water as it is not growing so fast. It can dry out slightly between watering. As the traps go black, remove them. Some plants will lose all their traps and almost bury themselves in the pot, and others retain a few traps for the winter. Watch for botrytis (see pest and disease page). It will start coming into growth in early spring, but it depends on how much sunlight we have.

Compost   
We use a mixture of 3:1 Sphagnum peat: sharp lime-free sand. Parts by volume. Re-pot every two years to achieve maximum growth, but will tolerate being left for four years. Old compost, ericaceous compost or houseplant compost will not do. Most composts contain lime, which flytraps hate, and/or fertiliser. As their roots are designed to take in fertiliser, the nitrogen can burn the roots. Therefore it is essential to use suitable compost.

Propagation
Grow from seed (it takes 2-3 years for a mature plant, but it isn’t difficult). Stratification (place pot in the fridge for a few weeks) helps germination. If you have let your plant flower, collect the seed from the seed pod, just as it is splitting on the top. You can see the black, shiny seeds inside. Sow immediately or dry and keep in the fridge over winter. You can divide your plant in early spring. It will divide easily into separate plants if it has formed a clump.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Free UK shipping

On all orders above £70,-

Fast UK delivery

Despatched within 1-3 days

Grown with little impact

Our plants grow without heating

100% Secure Checkout

Stripe / PayPal / MasterCard / Visa