Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)

The Venus flytrap is one of the most iconic and curious plants you’ll ever welcome into your home or garden. With its jaw-like traps and insect appetite, it has fascinated generations of plant lovers, schoolchildren, and botanists. But behind its dramatic appearance lies a plant with very particular needs.

This guide walks you through how to keep a Venus flytrap not just alive, but thriving, whether it lives in a sunny garden nook or on your kitchen windowsill.

Sunlight: Bright, Direct, and Essential

A Venus flytrap is solar powered. Its ability to capture prey is fascinating, but its life depends on light.

• Outdoors: The plant prefers at least 6 hours of direct sun each day, though more is better. Place it in an open, sunny spot such as a raised bog bed, windowsill, or container with full exposure.

• Indoors: It should be on a south-facing windowsill that receives strong, unfiltered sunlight for 6+ hours daily. If that’s not possible, use full-spectrum grow lights for 12–16 hours a day, positioned just above the foliage.

Without strong light, the flytrap’s leaves will become pale and floppy, and the traps may lose their red colouring or stop functioning.

Soil: Mimicking the Bogs

This plant evolved in the sandy, acidic bogs of the Carolinas. That means ordinary potting soil spells disaster.

Create your own carnivorous mix:

• 50% sphagnum peat moss

• 50% perlite or coarse horticultural sand

You can add a little long-fibre sphagnum moss for extra moisture retention, but avoid any soil with fertilizer, lime, or compost.

Only use rainwater, distilled water, or reverse-osmosis water to keep the soil moist at all times, but never waterlogged. Tap water usually contains minerals that can damage the roots over time.

Feeding: A Supplement, Not a Staple

Venus flytraps photosynthesise like other plants but catch insects to supplement the nutrient-poor soils they grow in.

• Outdoors: No feeding is necessary. The plant will catch all it needs.

• Indoors: Feed one trap a small live insect (fly, spider, or cricket) every 2 to 4 weeks. Only feed when the trap is open and healthy. Never feed more than 1 or 2 traps at a time.

Avoid meat, fertiliser, or dead bugs that can rot in the trap. Digestion takes 5–10 days, after which the trap will reopen. Each trap can only close a few times in its life, so overfeeding shortens its lifespan.

Signs You’re Over or Underfeeding

• Overfeeding:

  • Blackening, dying traps

  • Mold or rot inside traps

  • Multiple traps turning black at once

  • Mushy, oozing trap interiors

• Underfeeding or low nutrients:

  • Pale green traps

  • Small, spindly new growth

  • Slower trap formation

  • Deep red interior traps (some colour is normal, but intense red can signal hunger)

Container Growing: Can It Live in a Pot All Year?

Absolutely. A flytrap can thrive in a container year-round if you meet its basic needs.

• Use a pot with drainage holes and a saucer underneath.

• Keep it in sun or under a grow light.

• Ensure the peat-sand mix stays moist but not soggy.

• In winter dormancy, reduce watering and allow cooler conditions (around 5–8°C).

During wet winters, move containers to a sheltered, bright spot or cold frame. Trim dead foliage in early spring to make way for new traps.

Pests, Diseases, and Troubleshooting

Venus flytraps are remarkably pest-resistant but can suffer in the wrong conditions:

• Aphids or spider mites may sometimes attack new growth. Wash off with water or treat with a gentle insecticidal soap.

• Fungal rot or moldy traps usually occur after overfeeding or when prey is too large.

• Trap rot is common if you feed processed food or offer too much prey too often.

Prevention is simple: use distilled water, avoid feeding more than one or two traps, never fertilize, and ensure the plant gets maximum light and airflow.

Final Notes: Care Through the Seasons

• Spring/Summer: Active growth, traps open wide, prime time for feeding.

• Autumn: Growth slows, some traps die back. Reduce feeding and prepare for dormancy.

• Winter: Dormant phase. Foliage may blacken, but roots remain alive. Water less, and provide a cool location for dormancy.

Do not throw away your plant in winter—it is simply resting.