To plant Venus fly traps, you will need to buy pure peat or sphagnum moss without additives to use as the potting media.

Not all peat for sphagnum moss is completely pure and can therefore be unsuitable for Venus fly traps. Watch out for signs that nutrients are present in the media, the moss should not have “fertilizers added” or be “enriched”.

These are some great options to buy for peat and sphagnum moss you can purchase online and sometimes in gardening stores:

• Pure peat moss for carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/3vTqirs 
• Pure long fiber sphagnum moss: Pure sphagnum moss: https://amzn.to/3rjgMRB

You might find a cheaper option on local gardening stores, make sure you buy pure moss (no MiracleGro ;))

Once you have selected a moss, I would recommend to also get some silica sand or perlite to combine with the moss.

Venus fly traps can grow healthy is pure peat or sphagnum moss. However, the lack of perlite or silica sand for drainage of aeration can cause rotting, and slow down growth.

The moss with preserve humidity for your plant and the sand or perlite will help prevent rot, helping with aeration, drainage, and preventing compression. The perlite and silica sand also need to be completely pure without minerals or fertilizers.

A practical option is to buy already made carnivorous plant soil that usually comes with a type of moss a drainage agent.

• Pure perlite: https://amzn.to/3ppckLF
• Already made carnivorous plant soil: https://amzn.to/3Pt7TwB

Making carnivorous plant media for your Venus fly traps is extremely easy once you have all the correct ingredients. Here are some recipes you can follow:

• 4:1 or 2:1 ratio of peat moss and perlite
• 4:1 or 2:1 ratio of peat moss and silica sand
• 4:1 or 2:1 ratio of sphagnum moss and perlite
• 4:1 or 2:1 ratio of sphagnum moss and silica sand

The ratios are an approximation, there is no need to be ultra precise

Sphagnum vs Peat Moss for Venus Fly Traps: Best Alternative

Both pure peat and sphagnum moss are suitable for fly traps as they provide enough moisture for the plant.

Choosing either of them can provide some slight benefits and challenges listed here:

Personally I has better luck with peat as soil compression is not an issue when you mix peat moss with perlite and water your plants from the bottom.

As a beginner, peat moss combined with perlite at a 1:1 ratio is the optimal alternative as it is easier to pot a Venus fly trap plant without making any mistakes, like leaving empty gaps in the media. It will also help drain excess water if overwatering is an issue.

How to Plant a Venus Fly Trap

New Venus fly trap should be repotted to a tall container after buying them and once a year to keep the soil in a healthy state. The video and instructions below cover the detail process of how to plant a Venus fly trap:

What you will need:

• Pure water such as distilled water, reverse osmosis water or rainwater.
• A tall pot of a suitable material (glazed ceramic or plastic). These pots are great for Venus flytraps: https://amzn.to/3IYVGKU. 
  • Pot diameter: 4 to 5 inches (10.5cm – 12.7 cm)
  • Optimal pot depth: 6 inches (15.24 cm)
• Carnivorous plant soil

Venus Fly Trap Potting Instructions:

1. Place the soil in a container and moisten it with the water until it is almost saturated. 
2. Place the soil inside the selected plant pot.
3. Make a vertical hole in the center of the ground. Try to make a hole that is at least 3 inches in depth.
4. Carefully grab the Venus flytrap from the top of the bulb.
5. Introduce the roots of the plant in the hole
6. Make sure the pint/white section of the bulb will be underground. The bulb is very sensitive to light and extreme temperatures. It should always remain underground.
7. Use your finger to push the soil together and tighten the plant.
8. Water the plant slightly to make sure the soil is moist, but not swamped. You can use a misting bottle to avoid moving the ground.
9. If the plant was shipped to you, it has been in a dark box for a few days. Slowly introduce it to some sunlight. Start with a few hours of light and progress into an optimal amount of 12 hours.
10. In the next weeks, avoid additional stress to your plant. Do not feed it, do not fertilize it, and do not play with the traps. It takes the plant a few weeks to settle in the new environment.

Can Venus fly trap help you control the flies population? Yes, but in a limited fashion.

Venus fly traps usually have 5-7 leaves at a time. Each leaf can capture one fly at a time every 2-6 weeks. So, an adult plant could get rid of around 10 flies a month, assuming it captures a new prey right after finishing the previous.

In order to maximize pest control efficiency, you can follow these tips:

• Use adult plants: Seedlings or young Venus fly traps have tiny traps unable to capture and adult fly and will take years to grow into a more mature size.
• Place your Venus fly traps close to the source: Venus fly traps produce sweet nectar to lure insects. However, the reach of such nectar is not extensive. The bug needs to be close by to notice the scent and possibly become your plant’s food.
• Consider employing multiple plants at a time: Several Venus fly traps can be potted in the same pot to help as pest control.
• Research about Venus fly trap care before getting started: Venus fly traps require specific water, soil, and care to survive. Before committing to use them as pest control, learn about the difficulty of keeping them alive. Here is a quick overview on the subject: How To Grow Venus Fly Trap – Difficulty: Moderate Level

Disclaimer: Venus fly traps won’t cause a bug problem in your home by attracting bug. Instead, they will attempt to capture the insects in close proximity.

In short, Venus fly traps won’t get rid of a pest infestation, but can help capture the occasional fly. However, some other carnivorous plants are a lot more effective controlling flies or tiny gnats. Here are some great options!

Pitcher Plants: The Best Carnivorous Plants to Reduce Flies

These plants characterize by pitcher-like structures that attract bugs. Sweet scents lure bugs. If the victim slips inside the trap, slippery surfaces prevent the bug from escaping.

Pitcher plants can capture dozens of bugs at a time in each pitcher, and they have multiple pitchers ready to capture pests.

Pitcher plants are an exceptionally beautiful and interesting family of plants to grow and care for. The very nature of a carnivorous plant begs your attention, and they are interesting to watch as they grow and feed. However, they can be considered to have a certain level of difficulty in growing.

All pitcher plants require extensive periods of sunlight or artificial lighting of over 10 hours a day, a humid environment, pure mineral-free water, carnivorous plant soil, and sometimes a dormancy period (similar to hibernation)

Sarracenia varieties require tons of sunlight, and won’t thrive indoors. They can serve to control pests out doors or in a greenhouse, but not as indoors pest control.

The tropical Nepenthes variety tends to be more forgiving and can live in a temperate indoor climate year-round.

Learn more about pitcher plants and their care by reading my guide: How to Care for Pitcher Plants – Growing Guide

The Best Carnivorous Plants to Reduce Gnats and Mosquitoes

There are two carnivorous plants that are built perfectly for capturing tiny flying insects: Butterworts and Sundews

Butterworts

Butterworts or Mexican butterworts have sticky leaves with strong adhesives for insects. As insects walk through the leaves or land in one, they get stuck.

When bugs attempt to fight their way out of the adhesive surface, they get stuck more and more.

All the leaves within the plant are capable of capturing and digesting prey. The only factor that limits how many bugs get stuck to the plant is the plant’s size. 

Butterworts are great for controlling gnats, fruit flies, ants, and other smaller bugs.

Sundews

These plants also employ their adhesive leaves to capture bugs.

Bugs that get stuck to the leaves of the plant end up becoming food. The insects remain in the leaf while the plant covers them with digestive enzymes. Mature Sundews can capture more prey and larger bugs due to their size.

This was a general overview, but if you are serious about using carnivorous plants as pest control, read this article.

Where to Buy Carnivorous Plants

The five most common places where you can buy carnivorous plants are specialized online shops, brick-and-mortar stores, local shops, and Amazon and Etsy.

Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Home Depot, and several big box stores will seasonally carry the standard variety of Venus fly traps and sometimes types of pitcher plants. They usually sell for about $5-15 dollars.

Online shops specializing in carnivorous plants offer beautiful specimens and different varieties of sundews, venus fly traps, pitcher plants, and more.

Here are a few good shop options:

• predatoryplants.com
• carnivorousplantnursery.com
• californiacarnivores.com
• petflytrap.com
• flytrapcare.com/store/

Healthy Venus Fly Traps exhibit bright colors and large traps for capturing bugs. And during the growing season they often propane and produce clones.

Below you will find some clear signs a Venus Fly trap is healthy with some tips to ensure you make an accurate assessment.

Bright colored leaves

Venus fly traps characterize with deep and shiny colors. Healthy plants have bright green and red leaves that do not appear faded.

Unhealthy plants will often start looking yellow due to mineral saturation in the soil, or overwatering.

Not all Venus Fly traps have the same color intensity, however, changes in the appearance of the plant can be a sign of good or bad health.

Red coloring inside the traps

Some Venus Fly Traps can develop deep burgandy colors inside their leaves. The red coloring in the leaves is overall a sign of good health. The deeper the color the better.

When plants do not receive enough lighting they will often lose the red color of their leaves as they are experience deficient growing conditions.

If you notice your plant has started to fade and lose its colors, consider increasing the light intensity or time under sunlight. Venus Fly Traps thrive in sunny conditions for 10+ hours a day.

Straight non “droopy” leaves

When Venus Fly Traps do not receive enough sunlight or water they often start to wilt. Their leaves bend and arch.

Healthy Venus Fly Traps should have straight leaves. Such leaves might grow close to the ground or straight up depending on the season, but they should always be perky and not droopy.

Here is a guide on how to fix a droopy Venus Fly trap

Working bug-catching traps

The leaves of a Venus Fly trap have traps to capture insects.

Inside the traps there are some thin filaments that are called trigger hairs. When the trigger hairs sense movement twice, they send a signal and the trap closes.

The traps of the plant should work when the plant is healthy. If something touches the trigger hairs, they should in most cases close.

It is normal for a leaf to stop working, but if the whole plant is not reacting, then there is a problem. It is often a sign of poor lighting. Often, Venus Fly Traps stop activating their traps to save energy due to poor growing conditions.

Several healthy leaves at a time

Venus Fly Traps will lose and produce leaves as they grow and develop.

Overall, a substantial number of leaves will help them with photosynthesis and to trap insects. Most Venus Fly Traps grow 3-7 leaves at a time.

Promote leaf growth by ensuring your plant got dormant during the winter and by providing substantial water and light throughout the year.

Large traps in all leaves

Venus Fly Traps grow traps at the end of every leaf.

Healthy plants grow traps close to an inch in size when they are of mature age (over 3-4 years old).

This chart can help you assess the health of your plant.

When Venus flytraps are thriving they develop large traps and focus on capturing insects. In the contrary, if they are struggling, they reduce the size of their traps. Dying plants will often lose their traps completely.

Promoting trap development is not very hard. The focus should be in two things: plenty of lighting and proper watering. This guide can help you master both:

Rhizome divisions

Venus Fly Traps reproduce through different mechanisms. Some of them are a sign of health.

During the spring and summer season, fit Venus Fly trap often produce rhizome divisions. They clone themselves and produce additional plants from their bulb.

Here is an example of a rhizome division. You can notice smaller leaves in some areas and over 18 leaves in total.

Venus Fly traps have 3-7 leaves, if you can count a lot more than that, it means you probably own multiple plants already!

Leaves with long petioles

Sometimes the petioles of a Venus Fly trap with widen as the plant struggles to capture enough sunlight.

When Venus flytraps are in good shape, they develop long and slim petioles. Wide petioles are not a positive trait.

The actual dimensions of the leaf will vary according to their specific variety, but any widening of the petiole is usually a warning sign!

Fully formed leaves

Pest will often cause leaf deformation problems which need to be addressed right away to determine the severity.

Venus Fly Traps have a very unique shape which is preserved from seedlings into adulthood. Fully form and even leaves are a sign of good growing conditions.

Now that you have learned the signs of a healthy plant, I would recommend you to go over the most important care considerations.

This list will help you ensure your set up is optimal! remember, when the conditions are right, Venus fly traps can live for many many years (or decades!)  

Light: Optimally they should receive 12 hours of sunlight, and the minimum is 6 hours of light. The light source might be natural light or artificial lighting (plant lights)
Water: Venus flytraps must be watered with pure water only, such as rainwater, distilled water, and reverse osmosis water. Tap water and bottled water kill carnivorous plants. 
The soil of the plant must always remain moist. Always keep the ground humid, but do not flood. Venus flytraps do not grow in swamps.
Soil: Employ nutrient-free soil for carnivorous plants. Never employ enriched soil, full of fertilizers. This article covers many soil options for Venus flytraps.
Feeding: Venus flytraps do not need to capture insects to survive, but they benefit from them greatly. Place Venus flytraps outdoors, and they will have plenty of access to food. Also, consider feeding your plant to provide extra nutrients.
Fertilizers: Do not fertilize Venus flytraps. The chemicals in the fertilizers can hurt the plant
Flowers: After reaching maturity, Venus flytraps start producing flowers every spring. Skipping it allows for further growth and development.
Dormancy: Venus flytraps must undergo a dormancy period for 2-3 months during the winter. Ensure your plant will experience this resting period by placing them in a cold location. For example, outdoors, in a cold garage, or porch.

What to Feed Venus Fly Traps

In their natural habitat Venus fly traps consume flies, ants, spiders, slugs, and many other insects.

If you have a Venus fly trap you can feed it with flies to provide sustenance and encourage growth. Venus fly traps do not require insects to survive, but they do benefit from consuming them every once in a while.

Flies are a great food option for Venus fly traps, as they are common, have lots of soft tissue and standard house flies are not very big.

The flies you use can be dead or live. I have included some instructions below on how to feed your Venus fly trap.

Feeding Frequency

For best results, I recommend feeding a single fly or other insect every 2 to 6 weeks.

When feeding the plant, use a single fly that is no larger than 2/3 of the size of the trap you intend to feed. Feed only one leaf of the whole plant.

Once a Venus fly trap has consumed the bug, then you can feed it again. It usually takes over 2 weeks to digest a single small insect.

It is best to select a fly that is smaller rather than bigger. Large insects can overwhelm the plant, who is unable to consume the insect completely. If this happens, the leaf withers and dies.

Feeding multiple flies to your plant at the same time can also affect its health due to overfeeding. This will often cause black leaves.

Can Venus Fly Traps Get Rid of House Flies

Answer: Yes, but only in a small scale

Venus fly traps can help control flies at home. However, their pest control capabilities are overall limited.

A single plant can capture as many flies as the traps it has. Most plants will grow three to 7 traps, so it can catch up to 7 flies when it is at full capacity.

This might sound well, but remember it can take weeks for a trap to reopen.

Realistically a single Venus fly trap plant will catch only a handful of flies every month.

If you have a pest infestation, other carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants or sundews are a lot more effective. Here is how you can use those.

How to Feed Flies to Venus Fly Traps

Venus fly traps are effective predators. At home or in the wild, most Venus fly traps have no issues capturing insects on their own.

The best way to feed your plant is by placing it in a location where it can have plenty of access to bug. Then, the Venus fly trap will capture insects on its own.

They attract insects such as flies or ants with sweet nectar inside their leaves. Once the plant detects the insect, the leaf closes to attempt to capture food.

However, if your plant is unable to capture insects, you should consider feeding it. Flies are a good alternative, but there are many other I have listed below.

Instructions to Feed Live or dead Flies

First, let’s start with some basics… In every trap you will see three thin filaments on each side. Those filaments are called trigger hairs and are there to sense movement. When touched twice in a row they signal the leaf to close. Once closed, they will promote the production of digestive juices if they sense more movement inside the leaf.

With that in mind, here are the instructions for feeding.

1.- Locate the trigger hairs inside a trap

Look for a large and healthy trap to feed your plant. Then, look for the filaments in east lobe.

In the image below I have marked the trigger hairs from one of my plants:

2.- Drop the Food

Grab your insects and place it inside of the leaf of your plant. Regardless if the fly is dead or alive you will need to touch the trigger hairs twice while you drop the food.

You will need to be quick to allow the plant to close and keep the insect inside. The leaf should close and trap the insect.

3.- Stimulate the Leaf (this step is only applicable to dead bugs)

Once the insect is trapped inside the leaf you might need to continue to stimulate it.

When you feed dead bugs, your plant will detect the lack of motion and reopen. To avoid this you will need to trick the plant into thinking it it detecting motion.

Grab the trap with your hands. Place a finger in each side and start doing a soft tapping motion for 30-40 times.

In the picture below I am stimulating the leaf with chopsticks:

4.- Wait for digestion to take place (it is a long process)

Once your Venus fly trap start digesting the fly, it will take several days or even weeks to reopen.

It is perfectly normal for your plant to take that long consuming its food.

In some cases a leaf can even die in the process and that is normal. For that reason, it is only recommended to feed one leaf at a time.

For more information on how to feed dead flies to your Venus fly trap, check out this other article.

What to Do If Your Venus Fly Trap Does Not Work

Sometimes leaves in a Venus fly trap won’t close, making it impossible for the plant to consume insects.

In many cases this problem is either caused buy the age of the leaf (the leaf is just old and exhausted) and in other by poor growing conditions.

Venus fly traps that are struggling to survive will often deprioritize their insect trapping mechanisms focus on photosynthesis.

To ensure your plant is healthy and it is not suffering from this, check out this article to go over its complete care instructions. Sometimes a small mistake can have great effects, but it is often a very easy fix

Food Alternatives for Venus Fly Traps

Venus fly traps can eat almost any type of bug that is small enough to fit inside their leaves. Here are some common options:

• Cricket
• Mealworms
• Bloodworms
• Fruit flies
• Gnats
• Ants
• Rollie pollies
• Beetles
• Spiders
• Ladybugs
• Grasshoppers
• Mosquitos

For a complete list with more food options, check out this article: Complete List Food Options for Venus flytrap

What is the most important part of a feeding a Venus fly trap is to avoid feeding human food to your plant. Chicken, meat, fruit, candy, hamburger, gummies or cheese are all unsuitable for carnivorous plants.

Feeding human food to your Venus fly traps will cause black leaves, attract mold, and overall affect the health of your plant!

For more information on Venus fly trap care, read this free growing guide.

Crickets as well as mealworms and bloodworms are some of the best food alternatives for Venus fly traps. These insects contain tons of nutritious elements, are easy to digest, and inexpensive.

In this article, I will share how you can feed crickets to your plant to promote growth while avoiding any mistakes that could harm your plant

Where to Get Crickets

You can purchase freeze-dried (dehydrated) crickets from most pet stores. You can usually find these dead crickets in the reptile fish food section.

In some pet stores you can also find live crickets and of course you could catch them yourself!

Venus fly traps can eat dead or live crickets. Both options offer a very similar nutritional value. However, the feeding process will varies when employing live vs dead bugs. Feeding dead crickets will be slightly more challenging.

A single container of freeze-dried crickets can last you for years and they are usually less than $10. Here is a link to one you can buy: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv

I prefer to use dead crickets or mealworms, because I only use a handful a month. When they are dehydrated, you can store them for years. Buying a container of life bugs ends up being a waste of money.

Besides crickets you can also buy fruit flies, mealworms, and bloodworms in most pet stores or online. Follow the links to check prices and availability.

How to Select the Right Cricket

it is key that you select crickets of the appropriate size to feed your plant.

Choose a cricket that can fit inside a trap when the trap closes. As a rule of thumb you should look for a bug that is a maximum of 1/2 of the size of the trap.

You want to avoid insects that will be sticking our of the trap.

if you have the option, pick a smaller insect rather than a bigger one. Insects that are too large can cause the leaf to wither and harm your plant

How Often to Feed Your Plant

For best results, feed your Venus flytrap once every 2-4 weeks. When feeding, use a single bug and feed only one trap.

Overfeeding your plant can cause black leaves and weaken the plant.

Make sure to feed your plant throughout the year and stop feeding it during dormancy.

Tip: Manual Feeding is Not required

Venus fly traps extract beneficial nutrients from insects, but such nutrients are not essential for their survival. These plants produce their food through the standard photosynthetic process.

Feeding your plant, provides a boost in growth and health, but it is not required.

If you do not want to feed your plant, you do not need to do it.

Personally, I recommend either growing your plant outdoors and letting it capture insects on its own or feeding it. It is not for survival, but a way to help you grow big Venus fly trap.

How to Feed Live Crickets to Venus Fly Trap

Feeding Venus flytraps is a straightforward process that can improve the health of your plant if done correctly. Here are some initial tips:

• Always employ insects that are a maximum of 1/2 of the size of the trap.
• There is no need to feed venus fly traps when they live outdoors
• Feed a single bug once every 2-6 weeks
• Avoid manually feeding venus fly traps during dormancy or if your plant is struggling to survive.

The list below outlines the steps to feed a live bug to a Venus flytrap. You can also watch the video to get a live demonstration of the feeding process.

1. Locate the trigger hairs in your Venus flytrap. They are three thin filaments in each lobe of the trap.
2. Grab the insect.
3. Place the bug inside the lobes of your Venus flytrap. Make sure the bug is placed as close to the center as possible
4. Touch the trigger hairs in the trap at least 2 consecutive times. After two touches the Venus flytrap should close on the insect.
5. Wait until the trap closes and monitor it for the next 2-5 minutes. After a few minutes, the trap should be fully close.
6. The Venus flytrap start digesting the bug, it won’t reopen until at least a few days or a couple of weeks.

Venus fly traps can take over 2 to 3 weeks to digest a single small cricket. Do not worry if your plant does not reopen right away; the digestion process is very slow.

Read the complete venus flytrap feeding guide for more information!

How to Feed Dead Crickets to Venus Fly Trap

You can buy dead crickets that come freeze-dried from per stores or grocery stores or simply a dead cricket you caught or found.

However, you must keep in mind that feeding dead bugs to your plant takes an extra effort, as you must trick the plant into believing it caught live prey.

Step 1- If your are using freeze-dried crickets, rehydrate them: To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. Make sure to get rid of the water as the excess can cause black leaves.

Skip this step if you simply have a dead cricket that is not dehydrated.

Step 2- Select the trap you intend to feed. Tip: selecting larger and younger traps tends to be more effective.

Step 3- Locate the trigger hairs: Observe the inside of the trap and locate the three trigger hairs in each lobe. This thin filaments are located in the center of the lobes.

When feeding a Venus flytrap, you must touch them twice within a few seconds for them to close. 

Step 4- Insert the bug: Place the cricket inside the trap and touch the trigger hairs twice.

I follow this effective strategy: grab the bug with chopsticks and place it inside the traps with a brushing motion. Touch the trigger hairs with that motion and drop the bug.

The trap should close. If it is not closed, just touch the trigger hairs one more time.

Step 5- Continue to stimulate: Venus flytraps take their time to start digesting prey. The plant must first confirm it caught live bugs.

So, to trick the plant, you must stimulate the trigger hairs.

Press the sides of the trap gently in a tapping motion for 30 seconds.

The trap should go from a semi closed stage (shown in the picture) to a complete shut stage. Continue to stimulate for another 30 seconds or until the trap is sealed shut.

After the leaf is completely closed, the plant will produce digestive enzymes and start consuming the insect.

At this stage all the work is done! Just leave your plant to consume the food. it usually take from a few days to up to 3 weeks or more.

List of What to Feed Venus Fly Trap

Venus fly traps can eat almost any type of insects or spider that is small enough to fit inside their leaves. Here are options you can use:

• Flies
• Cricket
• Mealworms
• Bloodworms
• Fruit flies
• Gnats
• Ants
• Rollie pollies
• Beetles
• Spiders
• Ladybugs
• Grasshoppers
• Mosquitos

For a complete list with more food options, check out this article: Complete List Food Options for Venus flytrap

What is the most important part of a feeding a Venus fly trap is to avoid feeding human food to your plant. Never use chicken, meat, fruit, candy, or anything similar

Venus fly traps ca not consume human food or larger animals. Such foods will harm Venus fly traps and could kill them

For more information on Venus fly trap care, read this growing guide.

Mealworms, bloodworms, and crickets, are some of the best options to feed your plant. Feeding your plant will accelerate growth, help your plant develop brighter colors, and propagate more often.

Here is how you can feed your plant, step by step:

Feeding Frequency

For best results, feed your Venus flytrap once every 2-4 weeks. Feeding a single bug to one trap within the plant is more than enough.

Make sure to feed your plant yea-round and take a break during dormancy. There is no need to feed your plant during dormancy.

Where to Get Mealworms

You can purchase live or freeze-dried (dehydrated) Mealworms from the pet store.

Both option are great for Venus fly traps and offer very similar nutritional value. However, the feeding process will vary when employing live vs dead bugs.

Freeze-dried mealworms are also available in Amazon, here are some I have purchases: Buy Mealworms.

A single container of mealworms can last you for years and they are usually less than $10.

I prefer dead mealworms, because I only use a handful a month. Buying a box of live mealworms would be a waste.

How to Select the Perfect Mealworm

Select a mealworm that is small enough to fit completely inside a trap. As a rule of thumb you should look for a worm that is a maximum of 1/2 of the size of the trap.

Preferably, pick a smaller insect rather than a bigger one. Insects that are too large can cause the leaf to wither.

If you are unable to find a mealworm that is small enough, break one and give smaller pieces to your plant.

Can You Not Feed Your Plant

Venus fly traps extract beneficial nutrients from insects, but such nutrients are not essential for survival.

Feeding your plant, provides a boost in growth and health, but it is not required.

Venus fly traps growing outdoors will have plenty of access to insects, they do not feed to be fed at all!

How to Feed Live Mealworms to Venus Fly Trap

Feeding Venus flytraps is a straightforward process that can improve the health of your plant if done correctly. These tips will help you ensure you do not make any beginner mistakes:

• Always employ small mealworms or other insect that are a maximum of 1/2 of the size of the trap.
• There is no need to feed venus fly traps when they live outdoors and have access to insects
• Only feed one trap in the whole plant at a time
• Feed a single bug once every 2-6 weeks. This will help you avoid overfeeding
• Avoid feeding venus fly traps during dormancy

The list below outlines the steps to feed a live bug to a Venus flytrap. You can also watch the video to get a live demonstration of the feeding process.

1. Locate the trigger hairs in your Venus flytrap. They are three thin filaments in each lobe of the trap.
2. Use tweezers or your hands to grab the insect.
3. Place the bug inside the lobes of your Venus flytrap. Make sure the bug is placed as close to the center as possible
4. Touch the trigger hairs in the trap at least 2 times. After two touches the Venus flytrap should close on the insect.
5. Wait until the trap closes and monitor it for the next 2-5 minutes. After a few minutes, the trap should be fully close.
6. The Venus flytrap start digesting the bug, it won’t reopen until at least a few days or a couple of weeks.

Read the complete venus flytrap feeding guide for more information!

How to Feed Freeze-dried Mealworms to Venus Fly Trap

You can buy dead mealworms that come freeze-dried from per stores or grocery stores.

However, you must keep in mind that feeding dead bugs to your plant takes an extra effort, as you must trick the plant into believing it caught live prey.

Step 1- Rehydrate the Bug: Freeze-dried insects are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. Make sure to get rid of the water as the excess can cause black leaves.

Step 2- Select the trap you intend to feed. Tip: selecting larger and younger traps tends to be more effective.

Step 3- Locate the trigger hairs: Observe the inside of the trap and locate the three trigger hairs in each lobe. This thin filaments are located in the center of the lobes.

When feeding a Venus flytrap, you must touch them twice within a few seconds for them to close. 

Step 4- Insert the bug: Place the mealworm inside the trap and touch the trigger hairs by placing it in the center of the trap.

With dead prey, you must stimulate the trigger hairs yourself. I follow this effective strategy: grab the bug with chopsticks and place it inside the traps with a brushing motion. Touch the trigger hairs with that motion and drop the bug.

Step 5- Continue to stimulate: Now, the trap should have closed. If it is not closed, just touch the trigger hairs one more time.

Venus flytraps take their time to close their leaves completely and start digesting. The plant must first confirm it caught live prey.

For dead bugs, you must continue to stimulate the leaves. Press the sides of the trap gently in a tapping motion for 30 seconds. If it does not close, continue to stimulate for another 30 seconds or until the trap is sealed shut.

After the leaf is completely closed, the plant will produce digestive enzymes and start consuming the insect.

At this stage all the work is done! Just leave your plant to consume the food. it usually take from a few days to up to 3 weeks.

If you do not have mealworms, you can also use crickets or any of the options below to feed carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv (link to Amazon.com)

List of What to Feed Venus Fly Trap

Venus fly traps can eat almost any type of insects or spider that is small enough to fit inside their leaves. Here are some suitable options:

• Flies
• Cricket
• Mealworms
• Bloodworms
• Fruit flies
• Gnats
• Ants
• Rollie pollies
• Beetles
• Spiders
• Ladybugs
• Grasshoppers
• Mosquitos

Any of these bugs can be dead or alive.

For a complete list with more food options, check out this article: Complete List Food Options for Venus flytrap

What is the most important part of a feeding a Venus fly trap is… never to feed human food to your plant. Avoid chicken, meat, fruit, candy, etc.

Venus fly traps can not consume human food or larger animals. Such foods will harm Venus fly traps and could kill them

For more information on Venus fly trap care, read this growing guide.

If you are growing Venus fly traps indoors, it is recommended to ensure your plant is consuming bugs.

Venus fly traps growing indoors and outdoors will both consume insects. However, indoor Venus fly traps most often struggle to capture prey.

You can feed Venus fly traps with insects, spiders, and even fertilizer. Here are some of the best alternative for food options:

You can feed your plant live of dead insects, such as:

• Ants
• Flies
• Gnats
• Fruit flies
• Beetles
• Spiders

Freeze dried insects are a great alternative you can buy at the pet store. This bugs are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min, before feeding to your plant. 

• Crickets (https://amzn.to/34QEnKv)
• Mealworms (https://amzn.to/3B9V4i0)
• Bloodworms

Another options is to use foliar fertilizer as feed. This is a more advanced method. You can use diluted Maxsea fertilizer to feed you plant by dissolving 1/4 of a teaspoon of Maxsea fertilizer in a gallon of distilled water. Then you can add a few drops inside the traps.

It is also key that you learn what you should never feed your plant!

Never feed human food to your Venus fly traps. Especially when growing them indoors. Meat, sausage, chicken, candy, fruit, cheese, and really any food that is not insects or spiders is harmful to Venus fly traps.

Also, you should never feed any other animal besides insects to your plant.

Venus flytraps can’t consume such complex foods. Their leafs turn black and rot with any of these bad alternatives. In some cases it might produce odor or attract pests. So… avoid at all costs

Best Food for Indoor Venus Fly Trap

1.- Nothing

Venus flytraps benefit a lot from consuming bugs, but they do not need them to survive.

It is perfectly fine to never feed your plant. It can capture bugs on its own or never do it and still be healthy.

However, I personally recommend feeding your plant when you grow them indoors.

Conditions indoors are not usually optimal, as the plants do not have access to long hours of sunlight, constant airflow and seasonal changes.

Feeding your plant can help them grow, propagate, and develop prettier leaves and brighter colors

2.- Live Insects

Venus fly traps are effective at capturing small bugs, if they have the opportunity indoors they will feed themselves. In that, case you do not need to worry about anything.

You can also capture or buy (in a pet store) live bug for feeding. Almost any insect will do. 

Here are some great options:

• Flies
• Cricket
• Mealworms
• Bloodworms
• Fruit flies
• Gnats
• Ants
• Rollie pollies
• Beetles
• Spiders
• Ladybugs
• Grasshoppers
• Mosquitos

Choose an insect than is the right size for your plant. For a Venus fly trap select a bug that is a max 1/3 or the size of a trap.

I suggest avoiding larger insects that might produce odor (roaches, large grasshoppers, etc).

Most of them you can forage in a garden or a park.

Crickets, mealworms, fruit flies, and bloodworms are available in pet stores and are extremely nutritious.

3.- Dead and Freeze-dried Bugs

Found a dead bug outside, you can totally use it for your carnivorous plants. Use the whole insects or a piece of an insects to feed your plant. 

You can also buy dead insects that come freeze-dried from per stores or grocery stores. You can find freeze-dried bloodworms, mealworms, and crickets for an inexpensive price.

However, you must keep in mind that feeding non live bugs to your plant takes an extra effort, as you must trick the plant into believing it caught live prey. The full instructions for this are in the last sections.

Freeze-dried insects are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. Make sure to get rid of the water as the excess can cause black leaves.

A whole container of freeze-dried bugs is usually less than $15 and will last you ages. Here are two links to some feed I have used; both are incredibly nutritious:

• Dried crickets to feed carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv
• Freeze-dried mealworms for carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/3B9V4i0

4.- Diluted Foliar Fertilizer

Fertilizing or feeding carnivorous plants with diluted fertilizer is a common practice among hobbyists. However, doing it incorrectly can end up killing the plants.

Maxsea 16-16-16 plant food fertilizer is a well known option. The fertilizer comes in powder and needs to be diluted in distilled water.

To feed you plant you dissolve 1/4 of a teaspoon of Maxsea fertilizer in a gallon of distilled water. 

Mix well before feeding your plants. 

Drop 1-2 drops of the solution inside the traps of a Venus fly trap.

A couple of drops is enough to feed the whole plant.

The goal is simple. Add the fertilizer in the leaves, never in the soil. Any fertilizer in the soil brings nutrients to the roots and poisons the plant.

Using Maxsea is very affordable and effective for carnivorous plants. However, it can be challenging to place the fertilizer without dropping it in the soil.

Besides feeding there are many other care considerations. Here is a care guide to grow Venus fly traps at home.

How to Feed Venus Fly Traps

Feeding Venus fly traps is not too difficult. I go through this process every few weeks and have perfected over the years. Let’s start with the basics:

Frequency: Feeding your plant once every 2-6 weeks is enough to provide key elements and nutrients. If your plant is still consuming a bug, wait until it is done to feed again.

Volume: You only need to feed a single insects to your plant in every feeding. Feeding more insects at a time can cause overfeeding and end ip harming the plant.

Best times to feed: You can feed your plant, almost year round. During the spring and summer season is best to keep up consistent feeding. However, I do recommend stopping any type of manual feeding during dormancy.

Size of the food: When feeding your plant, measure the size of the food. The insect you choose must be no larger than 1/3 of the size of the trap you intent to feed. The trap should be able to enclose the bug completely.

When using fertilizer, the size of the drops is not critical, but you must ensure all fertilizer stays in the leaves.

Here are the instructions to feeding your plant and one of my videos for a visual guide:

Feeding Instructions: Live Insects

Feeding live insects to a Venus fly trap is very easy.

Place the insects inside the trap and make sure you touch the trigger hairs inside the leaf (this are the thin filaments inside the leaf, there are three in each side of the trap). Touch any of them twice within a few seconds and the trap will close.

You have to be fast as dropping the insects and activating the trap before the bug scapes. 

The plant will close if the trigger hairs receive the signal, trap the insect and start producing enzymes to consume the food.

Venus fly trap will take about 7 to 21 days to consume a small bug and even longer for large insects.

Feeding Instructions: Dead or Freeze-dried Bugs

Using dead insects to feed your plants, does not require quick reflexes, you can just place them in a leaf and then touch the trigger hairs. The plant will close, but it won’t start digesting the bug.

Venus fly traps are very careful at selecting prey, they only consume live insects.

For this reason, you must trick the plant into believing it caught a live insect.

You will need to press both sides of the trap together. Do a tapping motion several times, approximately 20-60 times. With the taps, the trigger hairs will sense movement and the plant sets its digestive motions and starts producing fluids.

For the complete instructions on how to feed Venus flytrap, check this other article.

Besides feeding your plant, you can do more to encourage fast growth. Here are the tips to grow big venus fly traps.

Venus fly traps growing from seeds take 2-3 weeks to germinate. The seedlings look exactly like fully grown Venus fly traps, but absolutely tiny.

If cared properly, seedlings will grow quickly over the next years following the trap size averages from the table below.

Venus fly trap reach maturity between the 2nd and 4th year. When Venus fly traps are mature, they bloom and aim to propagate via seeds.

Mature Venus fly traps also commonly propagate through rhizome divisions. Dividing their roots and generating clones of themselves.

Venus fly traps can live for up to 20 years, reaching the following their maximum size in the years following maturity (year 5-7).

These are some dimensions adult Venus fly traps can reach if they are in an optimal environment.

• Trap size: 1-2 inch
• Horizontally: 5 inches in diameter
• Vertically: 1 foot

Growing Venus fly traps from seeds is the slowest method to grow a Venus fly trap. They grow much faster through rhizome divisions or leaf pulling propagation. However, these methods require you to already have a Venus fly trap.

Below, you can find a quick guide on the different propagation methods.

How to Grow Venus Fly Traps Faster: Methods to Promote Growth

Even if you are a beginner growing a Venus fly trap, there are a few things you can do to promote faster growth.

Ensure your plant receives plenty of light: Venus fly traps can survive with 4-5 hours of direct sunlight, however, they grow healthier and faster ion they receive 10+ hours of sunlight. The more light the receive the faster they will grow.

If you grow Venus fly traps under grow lights, set the times to 14-16 hours. Here is a guide to the grow lights.

Feed your plant: Venus fly traps extract key nutrients from the insects they consume in the wild. Make sure your plant has access to insects and it is consuming them regularly.

Catching one or two bugs a month with promote immense growth. If your plant is not capturing insects, feed a single insect once every 2 weeks. Here is a guide on feeding to ensure there is no harm to your plant in the process

Use good quality carnivorous plant soil: Venus fly traps require special soil to survive. First, make sure you always use carnivorous plant soil. Then, make sure that the soil you buy includes silica sand or perlite.

These elements are key to providing drainage, preventing root rot, providing aeration, and overall promoting growth as the soil does not compact very easily.

Here is a link to the soil I personally use for my carnivorous plants.

Repot once a year: As most plants, require a repotting cycle is needed to change the old soil and replace with fresh one that is not hard and compacted. Repot your Venus fly trap once a year at the end of the dormancy period. Here is a guide on how to do it.

Water from the Bottom: Use the water tray method for your Venus fly trap. Place the pot inside a tray with 1-2 inches of water. Let the plant sit in that tray until it finished absorbing it. Then, refill the tray and repeat the process.

Dormancy every single year: Venus fly traps go through a dormancy (similar to hibernation) during the winter months when they grow in the wild. During this period they shrink and lose their leafs while they prepare for the spring. Even though dormant venus fly traps do not look great, once the spring comes, they get out of the state and grow faster than ever.

If you want to have an effective growing season, your Venus fly trap must go dormant for at least 2 months. Here is a guide on how to achieve it.

Tall pots: Venus fly traps have long roots that grow vertically. When grown in short pots, there is a big risk to limit growth and potentially cause rotting as the rhizome does not do well in excessive moisture. Use pots that are at least 5-6 inches in height for best results. Here are some of the ones I use in Amazon.com.

How to Propagate Venus Fly traps

Venus fly traps can propagate via seeds, divisions (vegetative propagation), leaf pullings, and flower stalk propagations. The first two occurs naturally, the other are some unique methods you can employ.

Guide to Grow a Venus flytrap from Seeds

Many online shops offer Venus flytrap seeds, make sure you buy them from a reputable source or that you harvest them yourself.

Here are some great shows that grow and sell Venus fly traps and their seeds:

• predatoryplants.com
• carnivorousplantnursery.com
• californiacarnivores.com
• petflytrap.com
• flytrapcare.com/store/

Here are the instructions on how grow Venus fly traps from seeds

First, gather some basic ingredients: 

• A shallow plastic container that has drainage and tray
• Carnivorous plant soil. This is the one I use.
• A gallon of distilled water
• Light source: You can employ natural light or fluorescent LED plant lights 
• Sulfur-based fungicide (optional)
• Spray bottle

Sowing Instructions

1. Grab the soil and moisten it thoroughly with distilled water. The medium should be humid all around.
2. Add the soil to the potting container.
3. Place the potting container in the water tray and fill the tray with water.
4. Optional: add small amounts of fungicide to the soil.
5. Sprinkle the seeds in the potting media. Try to spread them out, but do not be too worried about separating all of them. Seedlings will be tiny and will barely take up any space. Do not bury the seeds.
6. Gently press the seeds toward the grounds.
7. Fill the spray bottle with distilled water and mist the soil.
8. Ensure the seeds receive indirect sunlight for more than 4 hours.
9. During the next few weeks, ensure the soil is always humid. Also, they should remain within this temperature range: 78 F – 90 F. As a trick to tackle this I recommend placing the tray in a closed or semi closed ziplock bag to preserve humidity.
10. You will start seeing tiny Venus flytraps germinating in 3-6 weeks.

For more on Venus fly trap propagation, here is a guide.

Venus Fly Trap Rhizome Divisions

Leaf Pulling Propagation

You can also propagate Venus fly traps through leaf pullings.

If you are able to extract a Venus flytrap leaf attached to part of the rhizome it is possible you can produce a whole new plant.

Here are some general instructions:

1. Place a bare root Venus flytrap on top of a surface.
2. Identify a healthy leaf on the outer layer of leaves in the rhizome.
3. Grab the leaf from the top and gently but firmly pull in downwards. The leaf should have a small portion of the rhizome in its base.
4. Collect a couple of leaf cuttings to increase your chances of propagating the plant.
5. Place the leaf cuttings in a container with humid carnivorous plant soil by laying them on their side.
6. Cover the base of the leaf-cutting with some of the soil.
7. Provide the standard Venus flytrap care to this leaf cuttings. They should have access to sunlight, a humid environment, and adequate amounts of nutrient-free water.

Leaf cutting/pullings tend to grow faster than Venus fly traps growing from seeds. Still, they can take a couple of months to show any sign of growth.

Flower Stalk Propagation

You can also propagate Venus flytraps through flower stalk cuttings.

Once your plant is mature, it will produce flowers. Before the plant blooms you can cut off those flower stalks to grow new plants.

You can cut the stalks into 2-3 inch segment and plant them in moist soil. if you keep them at the right humidity, they can start developing roots.

This method is not difficult, but the effectivity rate is low, so make sure you follow the complete instructions in this guide for flower stalk propagation.

Venus fly trap propagations through flower stalks usually take 2-3 months to show growth.

Venus Fly Trap Care Considerations

Healthy Venus fly traps can live for many many years.

This list of care tips will help you ensure your plant remains healthy:

• Light: Optimally they should receive 12 hours of sunlight, and the minimum is 6 hours of light. The light source might be natural light or artificial lighting (plant lights)
• Water: Venus flytraps must be watered with pure water only, such as rainwater, distilled water, and reverse osmosis water. Tap water and bottled water kill carnivorous plants.
  • The soil of the plant must always remain moist. Always keep the ground humid, but do not flood. Venus flytraps do not grow in swamps.
• Soil: Employ nutrient-free soil for carnivorous plants. Never employ enriched soil, full of fertilizers. This article covers many soil options for Venus flytraps.
• Feeding: Venus flytraps do not need to capture insects to survive, but they benefit from them greatly. Place Venus flytraps outdoors, and they will have plenty of access to food. Also, consider feeding your plant to provide extra nutrients.
• Fertilizers: Do not fertilize Venus flytraps. The chemicals in the fertilizers can hurt the plant
• Flowers: After reaching maturity, Venus flytraps start producing flowers every spring. Skipping it allows for further growth and development.
• Dormancy: Venus flytraps must undergo a dormancy period for 2-3 months during the winter. Venus flytraps must go dormant every winter to remain healthy and live for many years. Ensure your plant will experience this resting period by placing them in a cold location. For example, outdoors, in a cold garage, or porch.

You can also encourage quick growth for your plant. Here are the tips to grow big venus fly traps.

Key difficulties when growing flytraps:

• Venus fly trap require carnivorous plant soil, distilled water, and pots that do not leach minerals to the ground
• To thrive Venus fly traps need full sun for 6+ hours a day
• Their soil must be kept humid at all times (never dry)
• They require a dormancy period in the winter month if you would like to have them live for many years.  Follow this link to learn more about the dormant period..  Follow this link to learn more about the dormant period.

Easy aspects from Venus fly trap care:

• Overwatering is very difficult which is great for people that tend to water too much
• Venus fly traps adapt to different temperatures (very hot summers, freezing temperatures, etc) and humidity levels
• Venus fly traps won’t suffer with too much light, they always like extremely bright environments

How to grow Venus fly trap quickly

• Repot once every year at the end of dormancy
• Ensure your plant goes dormant every year
• Remove flower buds before they bloom
• Provide as many direct sunlight hours as possible (10+)
• Feed once a month

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Venus fly traps are native to North Caroline and South Caroline in the United States. In their natural habitat they grow in very sunny and humid climates year round.

These plants grow in coastal plain ecosystems that lack nutrients in the ground and the water. For that reason is that Venus fly traps developed their carnivorous bug trapping mechanisms. They consume bugs to supplement their diet and obtain extra nutrition.

Because of the very unique environment where they live in the wild, Venus fly traps require special water, soil, and even pots. But, don’t worry it is easy to find all these elements.

If you are currently struggling with a plant, this article can help you: How to Save Your Venus Fly Trap.

Venus Fly Trap Care

Each of these sections will help you tackle key aspects when growing a Venus Fly trap.

Soil

Always employ nutrient-free mineral-free carnivorous plant soil for your Venus fly trap. Using standard potting soil like Miracle Grow, succulent soil, or garden soil will kill your plant very quickly!

Some good options for carnivorous plant soil are a mix of moss with a draining agent—for example, sphagnum moss or peat moss and silica sand or perlite as draining agents.

Several vendors offer carnivorous plant soil mixes. I personally buy this blend from amazon.

You can also make your own carnivorous plant soil. Here is a guide to make your own soil.

Water

Tap water or bottled water contains too many minerals and nutrients to be suitable for Venus flytraps. These plants require nutrient-free mineral-free water. You can employ any source of pure water, such as:

• Rainwater
• Distilled water
• Reverse osmosis water

From these three options I usually buy distilled water as rain is not available in my area very often and reverse osmosis systems are expensive. You can buy pure distilled water jugs in most grocery stores.

Make sure the water is completely pure. Some companies sell distilled water that is enhanced with minerals, electrolytic, or elements for flavor. Such water is unsuitable for carnivorous plants due to the added components.

Venus flytraps thrive in humid environments. 

The soil Venus flytraps should always remain moist; it should never be completely dry.

Water the soil from the top or passively from the bottom until the soil is moist throughout.

The best way to water Venus fly trap is using the tray method. Place the plant pot in a tray with water (1-2 inches in depth). Let the plant absorb the water and refill the tray once it is dry.

Venus fly traps are not native to swamps, so they don’t need to be in Waterloo conditions. However, they love humid soil and suffer greatly when the soil is completely dry.

When selecting the soil, make you find the correct type. Here is a guide that lists the best soil options.

Lighting

Venus flytraps require plenty of sunlight to be healthy. 

Venus flytraps should receive 12 hours of direct sunlight to grow it their full potential. But, they can live a healthy life with a minimum recommended amount is 6 hours of direct/indirect sunlight.

Growers can employ natural light, or they can supplement lighting by using a plant light. 

Sunlight works best for Venus fly trap as it is the most powerful source. If natural light is not an option for you can check out this guide on artificial light growing.

These are the grow lights I use to grow Venus flytraps, sundews, and pitcher plants indoors: 

• Small plant light for 1-4 plants: https://amzn.to/3TInhXR
• T8 LED light fixture for multiple plants (6500k Cool White): https://amzn.to/3uWoeh2

Pots

Venus flytrap can grow in a wide variety of pot materials.

The best materials are plastic, Styrofoam, and glazed ceramic. These three options provide insulation and they do not leak any compounds to the soil within the pot.

Avoid any unglazed clay pots or terracotta pots. Both materials, leak minerals to the soil. Any time of additional minerals or nutrients in the ground it is harmful to Venus flytraps.

Here is a guide to pot dimensions for a mature fly trap (seedlings can grow in much smaller containers)

• Pot diameter: 4 to 5 inches (10.5cm – 12.7 cm)
• Pot depth: 6 inches (15.24 cm)

These pots are great for Venus flytraps: https://amzn.to/3IYVGKU. Larger pots promote root growth and propagation

If you need more information in the pot size, dimension or if you can reuse an existing container you own: here is the pot guide for fly traps.

Feeding

Venus flytraps do not need eat bugs to survive, but consuming them offers key nutrients and promotes growth.

Most Venus fly traps growing outdoors can capture their own bugs and do not require feeding.

Indoors flytraps might benefit from feeding every now and then.

You can employ insects, spiders, diluted maxsea fertilizer, fish food or freeze dried insects to feed your plant.

Never employ human food. That food will rot and produce odor/attract pests.

This article has a complete list of what you should and shouldn’t feed a Venus fly trap. It can help you as a guide.

The easiest way to feed a Venus fly trap is to use a single bug that is at most 1/3 of the size of the trap you intent to feed.

Place the live bug inside the trap making sure it touches some of the filaments inside the leaf (each blade has 3 thin filaments)

The trap will close when something touches the filaments twice in a row. Once the trap is closed, the plant will start digesting the insect.

If you are interested in feeding, this article outlines the process step by step with photos and a video.

Besides feeding your plant, you can do more to encourage fast growth. Here are the tips to grow big venus fly traps.

Feeding a single bug once every 2-6 week is a good recommended practice.

Avoid feeding during dormancy and right after repotting.

Dormancy

In their natural habitat, Venus flytraps experience dormancy every year. Dormancy is a hibernation/resting period.

Venus flytraps undergo dormancy when they are exposed to temperatures below 45 F for several weeks.

When they are dormant Venus fly traps shrink is size and lose some leaves

The Venus flytrap dormancy period lasts 3-4 months.

After dormancy the plant regrows stronger than ever and Strats producing flowers and propagating in the spring.

Dormancy is essential for the plant’s development. Venus flytraps can survive without dormancy, but their life expectancy lowers significantly, they only live 2 – 4 years. This is much less than 20 which is their life expectancy.

Since the dormancy process is essential for Venus flytraps, owners must ensure their plant undergoes dormancy once a year.

How to Grow Venus fly Trap Faster

These are some tips to speed the growth from your Venus fly trap.

Repot once every year at the end of dormancy: Repotting with fresh soil helps promote growth and root health

Ensure your plant goes dormant every year: Dormancy is required for the survival of the plant plus it promotes growth during the growing season (spring/summer)

Remove flower buds before they bloom: The flowering process takes significant energy from the plant. Remove the stalks as soon as you see them to maximize growth. In this article you can learn more about the flowering process and what to do.

Provide as many direct sunlight hours as possible (10+): More lighting does promote growth speed.

Feed once a month: Ensure your plant has access to bugs or feed once a month for a nutrient boost.

First, let’s start with the basics. Carnivorous plants capture insects to supplement their diet. They produce food through photosynthesis and extract extra nutrients from insects.

Technically, carnivorous plants do not need insects to be healthy, however, insects do offer great benefits like increased growth, propagation, and healthier looks.

Outdoor plants usually capture their own insects, and do not require feeding. On the other hand, indoor plants might need some help capturing prey.

Here are the food options to consider:

• Live or dead insects such as ants, flies, gnats, crickets, fruit flies, etc
• Freeze dried insects like crickets, mealworms, bloodworms: This bugs are dehydrated. To rehydrate them, just add a few drops of distilled water and let the insect absorb it for 3-5 min. Then, pat it dry before feeding to your plant. 
  • Dried crickets to feed carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/34QEnKv
  • Freeze-dried mealworms for carnivorous plants: https://amzn.to/3B9V4i0
• Fish food: This option has plenty of nutrients. You can break into pieces and place them in the leaves or dilute with distilled water to create a paste.
• Diluted Maxsea fertilizer: To feed you plant you dissolve 1/4 of a teaspoon of Maxsea fertilizer in a gallon of distilled water. Then you can add a few drops inside pitchers or right on top of the leaves of Venus fly trap, sundew, or butterworts.

Never feed human food to your carnivorous plant.

Carnivorous plants can’t process such complex foods. If you make this mistake, the food will rot and the leaf and potentially surrounding leaves can wither.

This article can tell you a lot more of the benefits for each food option. Also, I make recommendations below for each plant type.

How to Feed Venus Fly Trap

Feed Venus fly traps once every 2-6 weeks. You will only need to feed a single leaf of the plant with one bug. You can feed more, but a single insect is enough to provide all the needed nutrients.

When selecting an insect, make sure the bug can fit inside the trap completely when the trap is closed. Preferably, use an insect that is 1/3 of the size of the trap.

Flies, ants, small crickets and spiders are some good candidates.

Feeding Live Bugs

Feeding live insects to a Venus fly trap is very easy. Place the insects inside the trap and make sure you touch the trigger hairs inside the leaf. There are three thin filaments in each lobe, each of them is. a trigger hair. Touch any of them twice within a few seconds and the trap will close.

You have to be fast as dropping the insects and activating the trap before the bug scapes.

The plant will then close, trap the insect and start producing enzymes to consume the food.

Venus fly trap will take about 7 to 21 days to consume a small bug and even longer for large insects.

Feeding Dead Insects

Using dead insects to feed your plants, does not require quick reflexes, you can just place them in a leaf and then touch the trigger hairs. The plant will close, but it won’t start digesting the bug.

Venus fly traps are very careful at selecting prey, they only consume live insects.

For this reason, you must trick the plant into believing it caught a live insect. You will need to press both sides of the trap together. Do a tapping motion several times, approximately 20-60 times. When you tap, the trigger hairs sense movement and the plant sets its digestive motions and starts producing fluids.

Avoid feeding Venus fly traps when they are dormant in the winter, the next couple of weeks following a repotting, or if you plant is looking down or sick.

Guide to Feed Sundews (Drosera)

Sundews can consume tons of small insects at a time. They are very good at controlling gnat populations.

Feeding sundews is straightforward. Use a small bug, preferably an ant, fly, gnat, or mosquito and stick it to a leaf. The bug can be dead or alive.

Avoid large insects that will be left unconsumed for long periods of time, like a big cricket or beetle.

A single bug is enough to feed the whole plant. If you add multiple bugs, make sure you only place them in one or two leaves as sometimes leaves might turn black after feeding.

Feed your sundew once every 2-4 weeks for best results.

The image below is one of my sundews, it shows the recommended size for selecting insects. Small sundews can consume fruit flies and gnats.

Fun fact: Some sundews curl their leafs to help with digestion.

Avoid feeding your sundew if it is dormant, if you just repotted it, or if the plant is recovering from anything, like pests, for example.

Feeding Pitcher Plants: Nepenthes and Sarracenia

Nepenthes and Sarracenia can consume large amounts of insects at a time.

They trap bugs by attracting them with sweet nectar to the edge of their pitcher-shaped leaves. Those edges are very slippery and cause insects to fall and get stuff within the pitcher.

Feed pitcher plants by dropping live or dead insects inside the pitcher leaves. You can also use fish food, dehydrated bugs of diluted malsea fertilizer.

The fluid inside the pitchers breaks down the insect and helps with the absorption of nutrients.

Adding food in one or two pitchers is enough for the whole plant. You can repeat the feeding process once every 2-6 weeks.

There is no such thing as overfeeding nepenthes or sarracenia. However, if you grow them indoors, keep in mind that tons of dead insects decomposing inside pitcher can emit some odor (if the volume is substantial).

Feel free to feed your plant all year round.

When you feed it, keep at eye in the pitchers, some food can make the pitchers wither. Observing the health of the plant will help you evaluate its effectiveness.

Sometimes pitcher plants stop producing fluids inside their leaves due to improper growing conditions. The lack of fluid won’t stop the digestion of the insects, but will slow it down substantially. If you plant is not producing liquid, read this article to resolve it.

How to Feed Butterworts

Butterworts or pinguicula are very effective at capturing tiny insects with their sticky leaves.

Feed butterworts by sticking tiny insects to its leaves. Gnats, ants, and fruit flies are great candidates.

Mature plants might be able to consume small flies, but it will all depend on the size of the plant.

You can also use diluted Maxsea fertilizer, adding a drop in the leaves. However, be careful and do not drop into the soil.

Use one or two bugs in every feeding and repeat the process every 2-6 weeks.

Avoid feeding when the plant is dormant.