Add it to your home screen and it opens full screen: no browser bars, one tap away, and everything stays signed in. Free, nothing to download from an app store.
- Tap the Share button in your browser
- Scroll down and choose “Add to Home Screen”
- Open GrowSomeFood from your home screen
- Open your browser’s menu
- Choose “Add to Home screen” or “Install app”
- Open GrowSomeFood from your home screen
Venus Flytrap
The famous insect-eating plant - a tiny North Carolina bog native whose hinged traps snap shut on prey. Grow it in full sun, pure water, and peat-sand only, give it a cold winter rest, and buy nursery-grown plants only: wild ones are heavily poached.
Safety notes Not a food plant and not a human food source - it is grown purely as a living curiosity, and its snap traps are far too small and weak to harm a person or pet. Do NOT trigger the traps for fun or feed them table scraps, meat, or cheese: each trap can only close a few times before it dies, and rich human food rots inside and kills the trap. It is safe around children and pets but should be admired, not poked.
Overview
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is the most famous carnivorous plant in the world, and one of the most misunderstood. Each leaf ends in a hinged, spine-fringed snap trap that closes in a fraction of a second when an insect touches its trigger hairs, then slowly digests the prey. It does this because it grows in nutrient-poor, acidic, waterlogged bog where roots can't get enough nitrogen - so it catches its own from insects. That single fact drives everything about how to grow it.
The one thing to knowEach leaf ends in a hinged, spine-fringed snap trap that closes in a fraction of a second when an insect touches its trigger hairs, then slowly digests the prey.
Quick facts
- Sprouts in
- 35 daysRange: 21–60 days
- Soil temperature
- 78 °FRange: 70–85 °F
- Height
- 5 inRange: 2–12 in
- Spread
- 5 inRange: 3–6 in
- Cold
- Takes hard frostdamaged below 0°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 95°F
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 20 years
- Soil
- Consistently moist
- Water
- High
- Plant spacing
- 4 inRange: 2–6 in
When to plant
Nothing is open today. Spring transplanting opens 6 months, Apr 10 to Jun 9.
- Transplant Apr 10 – Jun 9 Opens in 172 daysAbout at to 9 weeks after your last frost (Apr 10 here)Set out nursery plants or divisions into a full-sun bog planter or peat-sand bed once hard frost has passed; they establish through the warm season. Never plant into garden soil or compost.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
Establish, grow, repeat
Getting established and returning each season are different parts of the story.
Stage 1 of 4 · Getting established
Settling into the bog
Day 0 to 60 after transplanting
Care at this stage
-
Only distilled, rain, or RO water - never tap
Keep the pot standing in a shallow tray of distilled, rainwater, or reverse-osmosis water so the peat-sand medium stays constantly wet. Tap, spring, softened, and mineral water slowly build up salts that KILL a flytrap over weeks - the single most common way beginners lose them. This is non-negotiable.
-
NEVER fertilize or use potting soil
Flytraps evolved in nutrient-poor bog and get their nutrients from insects, not roots. Fertilizer, compost, and ordinary potting soil burn and rot the roots and kill the plant. Pot only in a mix of pure peat moss and washed silica sand or perlite - nothing else.
Months are typical seasonal windows; climate, variety, and plant age can shift them.
Watch out for
5 to know. 3 are high-risk: Mineral Burn (Bad Water & Fertilizer), Wild Poaching (Conservation Threat), Missed Winter Dormancy. 2 are active in October.
Mineral Burn (Bad Water & Fertilizer)Severity High DisordernowSeason: year-roundTraps and leaves blackening and dying back for no obvious reason, stunted weak growth, and a white mineral crust forming on the soil surface, especially in plants watered from the tap.
Traps and leaves blackening and dying back for no obvious reason, stunted weak growth, and a white mineral crust forming on the soil surface, especially in plants watered from the tap.
Dilute or fully replace with fresh pure water and move the plant to a clean, soft-water container; badly affected plants may not recover, so prevent it by keeping the water lean.
Use ONLY distilled, rainwater, or reverse-osmosis water, always; pot only in pure peat and washed sand/perlite; never fertilize or use potting soil, compost, or garden soil.
As with all carnivores, hard, alkaline, or mineral-rich water - and any fertilizer - harms bladderwort, whose delicate stems and traps need soft, acidic, nutrient-poor water; mineral and nutrient loading dissolves the plant and feeds smothering algae.
Wild Poaching (Conservation Threat)Severity High WildlifenowSeason: year-roundCheap 'wild-collected' plants of unknown origin, or the temptation to dig one from a wild bog - both drive the poaching that is emptying native sites.
Cheap 'wild-collected' plants of unknown origin, or the temptation to dig one from a wild bog - both drive the poaching that is emptying native sites.
There is no fix once wild plants are taken - prevention through responsible sourcing is the only answer; propagate your own by division to reduce collection pressure.
Buy ONLY nursery-propagated plants from reputable growers; never collect from the wild (taking them from land you do not own is a Class H felony in North Carolina, and the species is state-listed, so collection and sale are separately regulated); support bog habitat conservation.
Not a garden threat but a threat to the SPECIES: flytraps are relentlessly dug from their tiny wild range in the Carolinas for illegal sale, and combined with habitat loss and fire suppression this endangers the last wild populations.
Missed Winter DormancySeverity High DisorderSeason: Nov–MarA plant that keeps growing weakly all winter and then slowly declines - smaller traps each flush, loss of vigor, and eventual collapse despite otherwise correct care.
A plant that keeps growing weakly all winter and then slowly declines - smaller traps each flush, loss of vigor, and eventual collapse despite otherwise correct care.
None once the turions are lost - prevent it by protecting the resting buds; keep a backup strand or share plants so a colony can be restarted.
Give a genuine cold dormancy of about 3-4 months near 35-50 degrees F every winter - outdoors in zones 7-10, or in an unheated garage, cold frame, or refrigerator in colder zones or indoors.
Applies to TEMPERATE sundews only: hardy species (round-leaved, threadleaf) kept warm and growing all winter never form their required resting bud, gradually weaken, and can die - while subtropical species need no dormancy and are unaffected.
Crown RotSeverity Medium DiseaseSeason: Nov–MarA plant that fails to green up or emerge in spring when everything around it does - the most common way this gets discovered, and by then it is already too late.
Rot of the central crown and rhizome, most common in cold, stagnant, waterlogged conditions during winter dormancy, or where dead leaves are left to decay against the crown. Ease off water during dormancy, remove blackened dead leaves, and never let a dormant plant sit cold and sodden. Cut away rotted tissue and repot into fresh airy peat-sand; heavily rotted plants are often lost.
A plant that fails to green up or emerge in spring when everything around it does - the most common way this gets discovered, and by then it is already too late. Stems that wilt, blacken, and collapse in wet weather while the soil is clearly damp rather than dry. A crown that is soft, dark, brown, or mushy when you press or lift it, sometimes with a foul smell, instead of firm and pale. New growth that pulls away from the crown with almost no resistance. Clumps browning and going hollow in the middle while the outer growth stays alive. In stands and cover crops, patches wilting, yellowing, and thinning out after wet spells or over a mild wet winter.
There is usually no cure once the crown itself has rotted: the plant is lost, and the job is to save what you can and fix the site. Lift it, cut away every soft, dark, rotted part with a clean blade back to firm tissue, and replant only healthy divisions or firm outer growth into fresh, sharply drained soil or medium. On potted and specialist plants, repotting into fresh airy medium and keeping them drier with better airflow gives the best chance, though a badly rotted crown is usually beyond saving. Bin the rotted material rather than composting it. Replant somewhere better drained rather than back into the same wet spot - or start again from seed, cuttings, or self-sown seedlings, which is the realistic option for anything that resents being moved at all.
Drainage and airflow at the crown are everything. Match the plant to the site first: a dry-adapted perennial planted in heavy or enriched ground is on borrowed time whatever else you do. In wet or clay soil, plant on a slope, berm, raised bed, or gritty rock-garden site so water drains away from the crown rather than standing over it. Set plants at the right depth - never bury the crown - and keep mulch, dead leaves, and debris pulled back from it rather than piled against it, since damp material resting on the crown is a common trigger. Do not overwater, and ease right off during dormancy, when a resting plant wants to be barely damp rather than wet. Give crowded plantings enough space and airflow to dry out, and do not sow a stand too thickly. In cold, wet climates, divide in spring rather than fall, so plants are not recovering from surgery through the wettest months.
Crown rot is the rotting of a plant at the crown - the growing point where the stems meet the roots, right at or just below soil level. Soil fungi and water molds that live in most ground attack that tissue whenever it sits wet, cold, and airless, and because the crown is the one part a perennial cannot regrow from, losing it usually means losing the plant. It is above all a winter problem: a plant that survives hard frost perfectly well in dry ground rots out in a wet one, and the classic story is a perennial that simply never comes back in spring. Dry-adapted plants growing in heavy or over-improved soil are the most vulnerable, along with anything that has mulch, wet leaves, or piled debris sitting against the crown, and anything planted too deep.
AphidsSeverity Low PestSeason: Apr–JulDense clusters of tiny insects packed onto shoot tips, flower buds, and the undersides of young leaves.
On a carnivorous plant skip the usual sprays: oily products clog the traps. Rinse the crown out, or use a product known to be safe on carnivorous plants; some growers briefly submerge the plant in pure water. A flytrap's own traps catch some aphids but not the ones in the emerging growth.
Dense clusters of tiny insects packed onto shoot tips, flower buds, and the undersides of young leaves. Curled, cupped, or distorted new growth that never opens properly. A sticky shine on the leaves - and on whatever sits under the plant - that later goes black with sooty mold. Tiny white cast skins left behind where a colony has been feeding. Ants running steadily up and down the stems, which is often the first thing you notice. Mottled, streaked, or misshapen leaves that do not grow out can mean a virus the aphids brought with them rather than the feeding itself.
Knock the colonies off with a hard jet of water and repeat every few days - on most plants that alone ends it. Pinch out or prune off the worst-infested tips rather than treating the whole plant. If colonies keep rebuilding, spray insecticidal soap or horticultural oil directly onto the insects, covering leaf undersides, and repeat weekly until they are gone; treat early or late in the day, and never spray a wilted or heat-stressed plant. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides - they kill the ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps that were about to solve the problem for you, and aphid numbers usually come back worse afterward. Anything you spray must be labeled for the plant you are treating; follow that label and observe its pre-harvest interval. On anything you eat, wash leaves, heads, and buds well before use, since aphids hide down in crowns, folds, and tight growth.
Go easy on nitrogen: the soft, lush growth that heavy feeding produces is exactly what aphids breed on. Check new growth once a week through spring and early summer so you catch colonies while they are still small, and rub the first few out with your fingers. Leave flowering plants nearby and skip broad-spectrum sprays - ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps do most of this work for free, and they only stay if there is something for them to eat. Keep ants off the plant where you can, since they protect aphids from those predators. Water steadily so plants are not stressed, and check any new plant over before you bring it home or move it indoors, since aphids usually arrive on something else.
Aphids are small soft-bodied sap-suckers - green, black, gray, pink, or waxy white, and mostly wingless - that gather in dense colonies on the tenderest new growth: shoot tips, buds, and the undersides of young leaves. They breed extremely fast in mild weather, so a few can become hundreds inside a week. Their feeding curls and distorts soft growth, and the sticky honeydew they excrete coats everything below and turns black with sooty mold. Ants often farm and defend the colonies for that honeydew. A few aphids are normal on almost any plant and a healthy plant shrugs them off; only dense, persistent colonies do real damage, and some aphids also spread plant viruses as they feed.
Good & bad neighbors
First rule: keep Garden vegetables, herbs & flowers (rich-soil plants) apart. Never pot or bed a flytrap with ordinary garden plants: they demand fertile soil and tap water, which are exactly what kill a flytrap.
Plant nearby
-
The classic bog-garden partner: Sarracenia want the exact same full sun, pure water, and peat-sand bog and share the flytrap's winter dormancy, so they thrive side by side in one bog planter and add dramatic vertical pitchers above the low traps.
-
A natural bog-mate that catches the tiny gnats and midges flytraps ignore; identical culture (sun, pure water, peat-sand), and its glistening dew adds contrast at ground level in a shared carnivorous bog.
-
Terrestrial bladderworts often turn up on their own in a flytrap's wet peat and are welcome; they share the same pure-water, nutrient-poor conditions and add small bright flowers with no competition for the flytrap's insect prey.
-
Sphagnum MossLive sphagnum moss is the ideal living mulch for a flytrap bog - it keeps the surface acidic and moist, indicates good water quality (it dies in mineral water), and looks natural around the traps.
Keep apart
-
Garden vegetables, herbs & flowers (rich-soil plants)Never pot or bed a flytrap with ordinary garden plants: they demand fertile soil and tap water, which are exactly what kill a flytrap. Keep carnivorous plants in their own dedicated peat-sand bog, watered only with pure water.
Varieties · 4
You pick one when you add Venus Flytrap to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Typical (species Dionaea muscipula)
Good first pickThe standard wild-type flytrap: bright green traps that flush deep red inside in strong sun, on low rosettes that rise more upright in summer.
Variety details for Typical (species Dionaea muscipula)
Green hinged traps with red interiors and fringing teeth on a low-to-upright rosette.
speciesgreen-and-redvigorousThe most vigorous, forgiving, and widely available form, and the best choice for a first plant. Hardy outdoors in zones 7-10; in colder zones grow it in a pot and move it under cover for its required winter dormancy.
Akai Ryu (Red Dragon)
A striking cultivar that is entirely deep maroon-red - traps, leaves, and all - rather than green with red interiors.
Variety details for Akai Ryu (Red Dragon)
Whole plant a deep burgundy-maroon, including the outer leaves.
all-redburgundyslower-growingcollectorNeeds very strong light to hold the color and grows a bit slower and less robustly than the typical form; a collector favorite. Hardy outdoors in zones 7-10; in colder zones grow it in a pot and move it under cover for its required winter dormancy.
B52
A famous large cultivar selected for exceptionally big traps - well over an inch across on a strong-growing plant.
Variety details for B52
Unusually large green traps with red interiors on a robust rosette.
giant-trapslargevigorousshowyVigorous and impressive, and a good choice for those who want the biggest traps. Hardy outdoors in zones 7-10; in colder zones grow it in a pot and move it under cover for its required winter dormancy.
Dentate Traps
A group of flytraps whose marginal spines are short, broad, and triangular - like shark teeth - rather than long and hair-like, giving the traps a distinctive saw-toothed look.
Variety details for Dentate Traps
Green red-lined traps edged with short, broad, triangular teeth instead of long bristles.
triangular-teethdistinct-marginal-spinesornamentalGrows and colors like the typical form. Hardy outdoors in zones 7-10; in colder zones grow it in a pot and move it under cover for its required winter dormancy.
Grower tips
Notes from growers, tagged with the zone they grow in. A person reads every post before it appears.
Nobody has posted about Venus Flytrap yet. The first one usually saves someone a season.
Free account. Your post shows your grower name and zone, never your email.