Venus Flytrap (Dionea muscipula) Care Guide

How do you care for a Venus flytrap?

Venus flytraps, or Dinoaea muscipula, are easy to care for if given the proper conditions. Follow these instructions to grow the iconic carnivorous plant!

Above: A couple of examples from the Carnivero storefront showcasing the diversity of Venus flytraps, including collector favorite, 'Bloody Nurse' (Left).

Venus Flytrap Light

Venus flytraps thrive in full sun, requiring bright, direct sunlight.

One option is to grow them outdoors. Venus flytraps grow natively in bogs, which are typically out in the open with little to no tree cover. This means there is no relief from direct sunshine, but these plants have evolved to use the light to their advantage. The abundance of light gives these plants the energy they need to grow.

Venus flytraps can also be grown indoors in a sunny, south-facing window sill or beneath intense grow lights.

During the growing season (spring through autumn), they need a photoperiod of 14-16 hours, which can be reduced to 10-12 hours during dormancy. Insufficient light causes pale green, elongated, and weak leaves. Under grow lights, ensure they provide at least 32 watts per square foot.

Questions about grow lights? Check out our guide!

growlights sit in a tray beneath a grow light

Above: A tray of Venus flytraps are on display in our storefront beneath a grow light.

What is a photoperiod?
A photoperiod is the duration of time that a plant or animal is exposed to light within a 24-hour period.

Venus Flytrap Temperature

Venus flytraps can withstand temperatures as low as 20°F in colder seasons if protected from harsh winds and ice. In warmer seasons, they can tolerate temperatures up to 100°F, provided their soil remains moist.

Venus Flytrap Humidity

Venus flytrap plants do not require excess humidity, but will suffer in desert climates.

Watering a Venus Flytrap

Venus flytraps require pure water from distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water.

This is because carnivorous plants thrive in nutrient-poor environments and are sensitive to excess minerals in water and soil. Other water sources, even the cleanest tap water, may contain too many minerals and could harm the plant over time. Note that boiling your water or using pour-through filters do not filter the water adequately enough and should not be considered as viable alternatives.

We recommend using the tray method to keep them consistently moist. Fill a tray with 1 to 2 inches of water and allow it to dry out before adding more. Keep the soil moist but avoid waterlogging the plant.

a circular container is filled with an inch or two of water

Above from left to right: This is a small multi-use plastic container that makes for an excellent tray. Many everyday items can be used for bottom-watering, including plasticware like this, ramekins, bowls, candle votives, and more.; We filled this tray with an inch or two of reverse osmosis water.

Above: A Venus flytrap is right at home in its tray. Place this entire-set up in your desired location with the proper lighting.

Venus Flytrap Soil

Venus flytraps must be in soil that is poor in nutrients and acidic, similar to their native growing conditions. We recommend a mix of 50% pure peat moss and 50% perlite or sand.

Our bog mix (which is available on our website a la carte) is made of:

1 to 2 parts perlite

2 parts peat moss

See our soil mixing guide for more information.

If you are mixing your own soil, it is recommended that you wet it before working with it. This is because peat moss is hydrophobic (repels water) and will struggle to retain moisture later if not soaked first.

If you are purchasing our bog mix, you don’t need to worry about that step, as we soak our mixes before packaging them. They are ready to use upon opening, but it would not hurt anything to soak it again.

a hand holds a jar of layered substrate ingredients

Above from Left to Right: This jar displays the ratio of the ingredients in our bog potting mix; Our mix can be purchased in-store or online in gallon or quart bags.

Potting a Venus Flytrap

If you order from us online, there is the chance that your flytrap will arrive unpotted. If your flytrap arrives unpotted, all you need to do is fill your desired pot with soil, make a hole in the soil, and gently place the plant into the space you created, until the base of the plant is even with the soil. Fill in the gaps with more substrate, and place in a tray for watering.

Repotting a Venus Flytrap

Wait to repot Venus flytraps until their roots are growing out of the bottom or there's no more room for growth.

To repot, turn the pot upside down, gently shake the plant loose, and remove excess soil from the roots. Transfer the plant to a larger pot filled with the appropriate soil. You can also split the plant during repotting, if desired, so that you can grow two flytraps!

hand holding a pot of soil with a hole in the center

a venus flytrap sits freshly planted in a small pot

Above from Left to Right: This pot has been filled with our hand-mixed soil, and in the center, a small hole was made to accommodate the soon-to-be-potted Venus flytrap; The Venus flytrap has successfully been transplanted into its new home. Once the flytrap is secure in its soil, begin routine care (tray method, appropriate lighting, feeding).

A Note on Venus Flytrap Roots

If your Venus flytrap arrives with black roots, or you notice them when repotting, there is no cause for concern. Black, stringy, fragile roots are completely normal and healthy for a carnivorous plant.

a pair of tweezers hold an unpotted venus flytrap showing scraggly black roots

Above: Notice the scraggly black roots on this Venus flytrap. While in other plants these may appear to be a red flag, in Venus flytraps, these roots are perfectly normal!

Feeding a Venus Flytrap

Unlike many plants, which are fed through fertilizers and nutrients in the soil, Venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants grow in very nutrient-poor soils and have limited photosynthetic capabilities. To survive, they have evolved to digest insects as the primary source of their nutrients.

Your Venus flytrap will likely catch some of its own prey, but we recommend that you still feed one or two traps at least once a month.

Options for “meals” include live bugs or dead bugs, like mealworms or frozen crickets.

Flytraps can also be foliar fed with Maxsea at 400 ppm once a month. Foliar feeding is a method of applying fertilizer by mixing water-soluble fertilizer with water before spraying the plant with the solution. This is not recommended for beginners.

Above: Mealworms make for an easy-to-store and readily-available food source for Venus flytraps.

How to Feed a Venus Flytrap

When feeding a Venus flytrap, use tweezers to place insects into their traps. If the trap doesn't close immediately, gently move the insect around inside the trap or try another trap.

tweezers hold a meal worm to the traps of a Venus flytrap

a venus flytrap holds a mealworm in its trap

Above from Left to Right: Notice the tweezers are aiming for an open trap. You can use your fingers, but be sure to not trigger any nearby traps to close. If a trap closes on "nothing," it has just spent energy that it cannot restore, which is not healthy for the plant; This flytrap successfully felt the mealworm it was being fed and closed its trap. It will then begin consuming its nutrients.

Leaves Turning Black on a Venus flytrap

Each trap on a Venus flytrap can only absorb so many nutrients for the plant. Once the trap has “done its duty,” it will naturally begin to whither. The plant will recycle the nutrients it absorbed from these traps to generate new ones—a vital part of its life cycle.

These blackened traps can be pruned off with scissors.

scissors trim a black lead off a venus flytrap

Above: It is normal for leaves on a Venus flytrap to turn black like this once they have consumed all nutrients that they can for the plant; Use a thin pair of scissors to snip off any blackened or browned leaves.

Venus Flytrap Flowers

Venus flytraps naturally bloom as part of their life cycle. Flowering is typically not harmful if the plant is otherwise healthy. You can choose to trim the flowers or leave them as they are without worry.

Above: A lovely flower blooms on one of our Venus flytraps.

Caring for a Venus Flytrap During Dormancy

As winter arrives with colder, shorter days, Venus flytraps lose the light and warmth they need to thrive. In response to this change in seasons, they go dormant. This means they die back or slow their growth to conserve energy until spring returns with longer days and warmer temperatures. This is a healthy, necessary part of the plant’s growing cycle and should be allowed each year.

Indications that a flytrap has gone dormant include slow growth, smaller traps and leaves, or black and brown traps and leaves.

During dormancy, adjust the photoperiod for Venus flytraps to 10-12 hours daily for at least two months. Decrease watering frequency during this time as well, to prevent rot and fungal issues, but be careful not to underwater. If outdoors, relocate to a sheltered area away from ice; if temperatures drop below 20F, bring them into an unheated room.

Attention Holiday Season Buyers: If your Venus flytrap arrives during winter and is still actively growing, it's best to let it continue. Young flytraps can tolerate missing one dormancy season, but more than that can cause stress later.

Venus Flytrap FAQs: