Water, water everywhere, but nothing for my flytraps to drink!
Most tap water supplies in first world nations is treated with chlorine and/or fluoride and often contain large amounts of calcium and magnesium. These chemicals are toxic to Venus flytraps, in fact they’re probably not much good for plants in general, but Venus flytraps are particularly sensitive to chemicals in their water supply and it’s use can slow down the growth of your flytrap and sometimes even kill it.
If your plant is kept outside and there’s plenty of rain water available then you wont have any problems. But if you are in a dry spell or your plant is kept inside, then it’s a good idea not to use tap water for your plant.
Other options instead of using tap water are:
- distilled water
- rain water – collecting from your roof is usually quite easy
- bottled filtered drinking water – expensive!
- filtered tap water – make sure it’s a good filter though
Filtered water normally contains some chemical residues, but not enough to cause grief for your Venus flytrap. Spring water often contains significant other minerals so isn’t recommended, but is still a better option than using tap water.
Should I repot my Venus Flytrap?
Well the first question to ask is why do you want to repot? If your answer is because the pot your plant came in is small and you ‘think’ your plant will grow better by repotting, then the answer is most likely no, don’t repot.
Venus flytraps do not need much room for their roots to grow, they’re quite happy living in teeny weeny pots (4 cm x 6 cm is usually big enough) and most pots bought from garden shops usually come with pots around this size or bigger. Repotting your Venus flytrap can shock it and slow down it’s growth, or even kill it.
Having said that, there are good reasons for deciding to repot, including improved soil aeration and possibly faster growth. A larger pot can often help protect your plant during freezing temperatures, although you should always protect your plant from freezing temperatures as they don’t like it.
If you are going to repot, then make sure you read the potting mix post for tips on what type of soil to use. If you are going to repot, I suggest doing it as they leaving their dormancy period (early spring or very late winter). If you must repot at any other time of the year, then make sure you keep the root system intact or your plant will probably die.
What to do if you use the wrong flytrap potting mix or water
Using the wrong potting mix, tap water or worst of all adding fertlizer to your plant is sure fire way to eventually kill it. However, if you have done one of these then don’t panic, there are solutions!
If you’ve been watering your plant with tap water for many months and your plant is looking a little unhealthy, then it is advisable to flush the plant 4-5 times with clean water to get rid of those horrible inorganic residues which are killing your plant. Your plant should still live and re-potting shouldn’t be necessary.
If you’ve used the wrong potting mix or even used fertilizer and it’s late winter or early spring, then just repot and your plant should be fine. If it’s not late winter or early spring you will still need to repot your plant, but make sure you give your plant lots of light, keep it watered well and make sure you follow the advice here on flytrapgrowing.info as repotting at the wrong time of year is very hard on your plant. If you used a water soluble fertilizer such as potassium nitrate then you should be able to rinse it out with a good rinsing of water; fill your pot up with water and let it drain 20x or so to remove all of the fertilizer.
Flytrap Watering
If you are growing your plant outside, make sure it is watered regularly during dry spells. Venus flytraps do not like being dry. Don’t panic if your plant is saturated with water as they are used to this happening in the wild and cope with being submerged in water for weeks on end. However if they dry up they will rapidly die so make sure you keep it wel watered in dry environments.
If your plant is inside a terrarium it is advisable to keep a constant level of water in the base to ensure a high humidity and to keep the soil moist. Terrarium’s are the easiest way to maintain your plant as they have a high humidity which prevents the plant and soil from drying out.
If you have your plant inside, but not in a terrarium then you will have to be very careful about preventing your plant from drying up. The easiest approach is to keep a constant supply of water in the base of the pot so that the bottom of the roots are touching a constant supply of water. If you live in an air conditioned or other very dry environment then you will need to keep topping up with water on a constant basis.
In general you don’t want the soil soaking wet, but it must be slightly moist at all time. So in a nutshell … moist good, soggy bad!
Red or Green Venus Flytraps?
People often ask why their traps are red whereas their friends are green. The reason some traps are green is due to a lack of light. Healthy plants exposed to lots of light (which they love) will generally turn red, whereas those in inadequate light will stay green. The more light, the redder the traps will get.
Some varieties of Venus flytrap are more noticeably red than others, in particular:
- Red Dragon
- Colin’s Red Sunset
- Red Piranha
Whereas some varieties such as Justina Davis have little or no red colouring at all, no matter how much light they get.
In general, the more red colouring a Venus flytrap has, the slower it will grow as it isn’t able to photosynthesise as effectively (photosynthesis requires chlorophyll which is what makes plants green).
Venus Flytrap Flowers
Yep, Venus flytraps have flowers too! They’re a rare thing to see and most growers chop them off before they get to bloom. When they are in full bloom however they are a spectacular site.
The reason people remove the flowers is because creating them costs the plant a lot of energy. Their growth cycle will normally slow markedly after flowering and this often continues for a year after flowering. If your plant is kept in extremely bright sun light, then flowering may not be a huge problem. However all Venus flytraps kept indoors will struggle to grow after flowering and may even die.
A post with instructions on how to recognise a flower stalk and the best ways to remove it will be posted at a later date.
Flytrap Flowers that grow traps
I have never seen this happen before myself. The phenomenon is referred to as false vivapary.
This is apparently not a completely understood topic and is believed to be caused by a hormonal mistake.1 If this happens to your plant, we recommend waiting till the stalk looks like it’s stopped growing, then clip it and root the new cuttings in the ground. With luck they’ll grow into nice big healthy plants.
How many traps do flytraps normally grow?
Venus flytraps typically grow around about 4-15 leaves.
Dozens of traps
If your plant is growing 16+ traps and some of them are reasonably sized (1 cm across), then it is possible that you may have more than one plant growing in your pot. This isn’t a big deal and don’t panic. Your extra plants will usually happily coincide in the same pot no problem at all. If they are already in a very small pot (4 x 7 cm) then you may need to repot at some stage to give them room to grow.
If your plant is brand new, it is possible that it is fresh out of tissue culture. Many plants sold in shops are grown in labs with all sorts of exotic chemicals, nutrients and hormones. This process often leaves the plant in a rapidly growing state and they may not get over this for a few months after purchase. They should eventually slow down however, many of the traps will die and the remaining few will hopefully (fingers crossed) grow nice and big.
Removing flytrap flower stalks
When Venus flytraps flower, they are often left in a poor state for a considerable time afterwards (often up to a year). They usually do not grow as quickly during this time and are likely to look sickly, limp and are more susceptible to dying.
To avoid this, most growers remove the flower stalks before the flowering process takes place. The flower stalks look different from regular trap growth as they are not as flat as the trap stalks. If you are unsure if your stalk is from a trap or a flower, then you can let it grow out a centimetre or so and if it doesn’t look like a trap by then you can safely chop it off. Don’t let it grow any further though as your plant may suffer for it.
If you don’t pay much attention to your plant or haven’t read this till you’ve discovered a 20+ cm long stalk with a small bud at the end growing out of the center of your Venus flytrap, then you may as well just let it flower as it’s too late. Enjoy the beauty of the flower in all it’s glory as chopping it off now is unlikely to help. Your plants energy was wasted growing that stalk.
Fly trap, flytrap or Fly Trap?
The question is, are they called “Venus Fly Traps”, “Venus Flytraps”, “Venus fly traps” or “Venus flytraps”?
Well, all of them are acceptable! Here on flytrapgrowing.info we refer to them as Venus flytraps, but that’s purely for consistency across the site. Many other websites and books refer to them by the other variations of the name If you want to be 100% correct, then it’s best to refer to the plant by it’s full name of Dionaea muscipula Soland. ex Ellis.
More information about the formal latin name of the Venus flytrap is available on our Taxonomy page.