Ah, Venus Fly Traps, proof that even plants think it’s wrong to be vegetarian… I say as someone who primarily eats a vegetarian diet! I am excited to share this plant care tip post with you guys today. Carnivorous plants are hands down my favorite category of plant! Senior year of college, I had a collection of carnivorous plants. Unfortunately, my beautiful (I say sarcastically) North facing windows at my apartment got the best of them. Of course, this was before I had invested in artificial grow lamps. However, I recently found a Venus Fly Trap at Walmart and decided to try it despite my lighting situation. Needless to say, I would not share a Venus Fly Trap Care Tips post if I hadn’t been successful in raising him! So, if you are reading this and you too have North facing windows (a.k.a little sunlight) then this post is for you!
History of The Venus Fly Trap
On April 2nd, 1759, the North Carolina Colonial Governor, Arthor Dobbs, wrote a letter to an English Botnist, Peter Collosin, describing what he called a “Fly Trap Sensitive”. Later in 1768, he recommended its official name Venus’s Fly Trap, or scientific name Dionaea muscipla. The Venus Fly Trap’s genus is a monotypic genus, meaning it is the only plant to belong to it. A little giveaway of this is that Dionaea means “Daugter of Dione”. If you brush off your Greek Mythology, it is a reference to Aphrodite (or Venus in Roman Mythology)! Since my blog is PG, I will not go into too much detail on why Venus plays a role in this plant name. I will just leave it at this: Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, and sex, and the term “tipitiwitchet” has been used with the plant. I’ll let you infer what you want from that… it’s lewd.
Speaking of North Carolina, the Venus Fly Trap is only native to the bogs of North and South Carolina. However, a naturalized population has been found in Florida. These bad boys are fire tolerant. In fact, fires play an important role in their growth. Regular fires will help clear competition and prevent cover from forming. As a rule, Venus Fly Traps only grow in areas where there is less than 10% canopy cover. Unfortunately, due to fire suppression, as well as over-collection and habitat destruction, these plants are listed as vulnerable on the international conservation status.
Sunlight
As previously mentioned, the Venus Fly Trap naturally grows in open areas that receive ample sunlight. These little guys love bright, direct sunlight. You will want to place your plant on a south facing windowsill in a moderately warm room with humidity. Now if you’re like me and don’t have a south facing window, you’ll want to find an area with both natural sunlight and access to any artificial lamps you have! This will help provide it with plenty of light still.
It might seem like a Venus Fly Trap wouldn’t need much light, since it feeds on insects, but these guys still get their energy from the sun! Rather, they eat insects to get nutrients they don’t get from the soil.
Water
The best method for keeping your Venus Fly Trap happy and healthy when it comes to watering is to set it in a saucer of water that it can bottom drink from. A very important factor when watering a Venus Fly Trap is to use distilled, filtered, or rainwater! You don’t want unecessary chemicals from tap water getting into/on your plant. While these guys may be fire tolerant, they are very sensitive to chemicals.
Now, I’ve actually been watering my Venus Fly Trap a little different, since it is getting less sunshine. I’ve created a “greenhouse” by keeping it in a plastic cup with a lid that has holes, and applying water to it once a week. My little guy is thriving like this. If you can’t place your plant in its ideal sun location I would recommend this watering method.
Feeding
Ok, this is a catergory I don’t normally have to put on my Plant Care Tips post! When it comes to giving your Venus Fly Trap food, there are several methods:
- Indoor Insects | You ever bring home a new plant, only to discover it has gnats?! Well, look no further than the incredible Venus Fly Trap to solve your issues! Really though, if you have any annoying little bugs in your home, just let your Venus Fly Trap catch them!
- Outdoor Insects | Now, if there are no insects available indoors, you can place your plant outside for a few days. Although, if you live in Texas like me, you may want to be careful of the temperature. Venus fly traps don’t like it above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Freeze Dried Blood Worms | If you don’t trust yourself to leave your little guy outside, and don’t have any annoying gnats indoors, then the next best solution is to feed it. Buy some freeze dried blood worms, carefully take a few, add just a drop of water, and then mash them up till they are a paste. After that is complete, use tweezers and carefully give your traps the paste. Once the trap closes, carefully take your fingers and gently massage the trap. This will activate the digestive enzymes of the plant. Generally, the trap will reopen in 4-5 days.
Do not give your Venus Fly trap fertilizer! It gets all of its nutrients from the insects it catches!
Soil
Since this plant grows in the bog, it is used to very low nutrient soil. I typically plant my Venus Fly Trap in Spagnum moss, but a 1:1 mix of peat moss and perlite is another great soil combination! The key to the soil is good drainage and aeration. You can also buy premixed carnivorous plant soil that has the correct mixture of peat moss and perlite, as well!
Typical Problems
Of course, like all plants, things can go wrong while caring for a Venus Fly Trap. This wouldn’t be a very good Venus Fly Trap Care Tips if I didn’t help you solve some of those issues!
- Green Floppy Lobes | This is a sign your plant isn’t getting enough water. You will want to remedy this quickly so that the plant won’t die! Try increasing the humidy by misting your plant
- Blackend Traps | No need to sweat this one! It is comepletly normal for the traps to die and for new traps to grow in its place. Particulalry in the winter as the plant goes dorment.
- Yellow or Brown Traps Along Edge | This is an idicator that the plant has been sun burnt. If you’ve kept your Venus Fly Trap in a shadier location, you’ll want to gradually introduce more light to it. If you quickl move your plant it’ll be shocked.
- Trap Not Closing | Traps will only close around 5 times. Be sure not to accidently touch your Venus Fly Trap for this reason. You’ll want it to save its closes for actual bugs!
- Flowering Plant | Ok I’m about to be a hypocrite because you should cut off the flower since it will weaken the plant, but I love my summer bloom I get from my Venus Fly Trap!
Variations
The Venus Fly trap has may cultivars that have popped up over the years. There are 31 accepted cultivars by the International Carnivours Plant Society that acts as the registration authority. Additionly, there are 7 that have been published but not yet registered with the International Cultivar Registration Authority. I’ve personally been wanting a Red Dragon or Wacky Trap.
Well, I hope these Venus Fly Trap Care Tips are the encouraging push you need to buy yourself one of these unique carnivorous pants! As you can see, they really aren’t all that intimidating compared to any other plant! Plus, they work better than a fly swatter!