How to look after a Venus fly trap indoors: Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula) are one of the most popular plants in the world, thanks to their unique nature and their ability to captivate insects. Even if you’re not a fan of bugs, you’ll love learning how to look after your Venus flytrap indoors, as it’s an easy plant to grow and maintain.
The Venus Fly Trap: What It Is
Venus fly traps (Dionaea muscipula) are carnivorous plants that can thrive indoors in climates with moderate humidity and a temperature range of 50-75 degrees F. These plants need bright light and dark periods to function properly, so keep them in a location that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight and avoid areas with drafts or cold temperatures.
Venus flytraps can be purchased on Sundewplants.co.uk. The shop also sells different types of carnivorous plants such as Sundews and Sarracenia. Plants purchased from proper carnivorous plant nurseries will typically be stronger and more robust than those from garden centers or department stores. You’ll also get much better advice on successful growth.
Venus Flytrap Cultivars
There is only one species of Venus Flytrap – Dionaea muscupla – but since the plant is so popular, there are dozens of different cultivars available. The most common types consist of small rosettes of leaves (called petioles) that each end in a trap. Adult plants usually produce 2.5 cm traps, with some of the larger varieties reaching up to 5 cm in length.
Different cultivars are selected for color, size, or mutation. Many popular ones include all-green and all-red ones. These include ‘Justina Davis’ which remains a green even when in the full sun and ‘Akai Ryu’ (also known as ‘Red Dragon’) which develops a striking maroon or burgundy coloration over the entire plant. You can also buy large varieties such as the ‘Slack’s Giant’ or ‘South West Giant’. The South West Giant originates from here in the UK, making it a very friendly plant for UK growers.
Fininaly you have mutant variants these include venus flytraps such as the ‘Fused Tooth’ and ‘Slack’s Giant’. These variants are very cool but do have some deformities such as not being able to catch prey.
How to take care of a Venus fly trap:
When growing indoors, it’s important to provide enough light, the right growing medium, water and nutrition, as well as a set dormancy period. In this guide we will go over each step.
Lighting
Venus Flytraps are like any plant they require sunlight in order to grow and survive. If you are growing your Venus Flytrap indoors, keep it on a windowsill that is exposed to direct sunlight. If this isn’t possible, you can use grow lights, our growing environment here at growlands uses luxx LED bars however smaller grow lights are also ideal such as fluorescents in the T5 or T8 variety. It’s vital that you make sure the plant receives at least six hours of sunlight every day; doing so will result in the leaves remaining green with the trap mouths showing a beautiful shade of red.
Water
In general, carnivorous plants need pure clean water. Venus Flytraps in particular evolved to grow in damp, low-nutrient soils. With bottled, filtered, or tap water, minerals can build up and eventually kill your Venus Flytrap. Rainwater is the best option for carnivorous plants because it’s completely pure and created without any chemicals that could harm them. Just make sure if you are collecting rainwater that you have a clean roof to avoid getting the run off water contaminated. You can also use distilled water or deionised water.
Unlike typical plants Venus flytraps can be watered a few ways. The best way is the water in tray method. When you are potting up your plants during the growing season, place the venus flytrap pots in a container with 1 cm of water. They prefer to grow in soil which is wet but not completely watered out. During winter, they require less water, and the soil should be kept just damp, to do this simply remove the tray and water as you would a regular plant. ONLY USE RAIN WATER in both cases, never give carnivorous plants standard or treated water.
Carnivorous Soil
Traditional compost for Venus Flytraps is made of crushed sphagnum peat mixed with either horticultural sand or perlite. Growlands Carnivorous Soil is made using run off peat and washed perlite. Here at growlands we love the outdoors and the environment and after seeing the impact of extracting and manufacturing peat on the environment, both in terms of habitat loss and global warming, we decided to produce a carnivorous soil that isn’t from peat sites but rather the run off. Our soils are in theory peat free as the soil isn’t produced from peat sites however the soil is heavily peat based.
Winter Dormancy
Venus Flytraps need a cold winter dormancy between November and February, where they can recuperate. They need to mimic their natural environment, you can skip the first winter dormancy in seedlings but plants of two years and older require it.
If you plan to grow plants on a windowsill or in a terrarium during the growing season, you will need to move them elsewhere outdoors when the temperature drops, such as next to a window in your garage or shed. Plants can also be left in unheated greenhouses over the winter.
Feeding
Venus fly traps can digest food, Inside each of the traps are a few trigger hairs. If the motion of an insect hits the same hair twice within a few seconds or different hairs are tapped in quick succession, the trap is triggered to close. Digestive enzymes then release from the insect’s continued movement after the trap has been triggered and the plant is able to absorb nutrients from the digested insect.
If you grow your plants outdoors, they will produce nutrients naturally and catch their own food, so you don’t need to worry about feeding them.
As we have mentioned most Venus Flytraps will catch a sufficient amount of prey on their own if you grow them outdoors, but if you’re growing indoors, you will need to feed your traps manually. You can do this one of two ways with insects or with carnivorous plant food. If you opt for insects you should feed them insects only after it has been taken care of all of its other needs. In order for the plant to efficiently digest their prey, the hairs that close the trap need to be stimulated once they’ve caught it. This prevents it from wasting energy trying to digest non-edible matter which may have fallen into the trap. To do this is straightforward simply take a insect and place it into the mouth. If you are feeding the venus flytrap dead prey then you will need to gently brush the hairs in the trap until the mouth closes fully.
For fertilizer feeding which is what we recommend using Growlands Carnivorous plant food, this plant food is designed and tested on carnivorous plants. It’s got everything required to feed and enhance growth. The spray is easy to use, simply apply once per month during the summer period and know youre plants are getting the correct nutrients and micronutrients. To buy carnivorous plant food check out our webstore.
When to Repot a Venus Flytrap
Venus Flytraps are plants that grow rapidly, so it is important to repot them every 12 months. The easiest way to do this is to use growlands carnivorous potting soil mix and insert the plant into the soil then water it in. Make sure the plant has plenty of water and fertilize it every two weeks with a Growlands Carnivorous plant food for the first month. If you want optimal growth keep the plant in a shaded area for the first two weeks this will encourage the roots to grow. The best time to repot a venus flytrap is before the growing season, normally mid- late march.
We hope you found this guide helpful should you have any questions feel free to contact us. To browse Growlands Carnivorous products such as the Carnivorous plant food or the Carnivorous Soil please view the selection below or by visiting our home page. You can access the shop from the navigation bar found at the top of this page.
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