How to Grow Carnivorous Plants: A Beginner's Guide
I've been growing carnivorous plants for over 30 years, and the thing I tell every beginner is the same: they're not hard, they're just different. Most of what kills them is ordinary houseplant habits like tap water, potting soil, and a dim spot on a shelf. Get a few basics right and they're some of the easiest plants you'll ever grow. Here's everything you need to start.
The Five Rules
- Water: distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis only. Never tap.
- Soil: peat and perlite, or long fiber sphagnum. Never potting soil.
- Light: much more than you think. Direct sun or strong LEDs.
- Watering: keep the soil wet, usually by sitting the pot in a tray of water.
- Plant choice: match the plant to your space, indoors or out.
Picking Your First Plant
Easiest Indoors
Mexican butterworts and Cape sundews (Drosera capensis) are my top picks for a first indoor plant. They handle windowsills, forgive mistakes, and catch fungus gnats while they're at it. Shop butterworts or Drosera capensis.
Easiest Outdoors
Venus flytraps and Sarracenia love full sun and do best outside in most of the US. Growing outdoors in the USA.
Next Step Up
Nepenthes are very doable indoors with bright light and some humidity. Heliamphora are for when you're ready for a grow chamber.
Pinguicula Pirouette, an easy indoor start, from $19
Flytrap FTS Red Jaws, a sun lover, from $22
Pure Water Only
This is the rule that kills the most plants. Carnivorous plants come from bogs with almost no minerals, and tap water slowly builds salts in the soil until the roots fail. Use distilled, rainwater, or reverse osmosis water. A jug of distilled from the grocery store lasts a single plant a long time. Why tap water is a problem.
The Right Soil and Pot
Most carnivorous plants want a lean, nutrient free mix. I use peat and perlite for flytraps, Sarracenia, sundews, and butterworts, and long fiber sphagnum for Nepenthes and Heliamphora. Use plastic or glazed pots, not terra cotta, which can leach minerals. If you don't want to mix your own, I sell pots already filled. My full soil guide.
More Light Than You Think
A bright room isn't enough. Flytraps and Sarracenia want direct sun, 6 hours or more if you can give it. Indoors, a south or west window with sun on the leaves works, and a full spectrum LED 6 to 12 inches above the plants on a 12 to 16 hour timer works even better. Nepenthes like bright light but not harsh afternoon sun. My light guide.
The Tray Method
For flytraps, Sarracenia, and most sundews, set the pot in a tray with an inch or two of pure water and let it wick up. Keep the soil wet, never bone dry. Nepenthes and butterworts like it moist but not sitting in water all the time. How I water.
Feeding and Fertilizer
Outdoors, plants catch plenty on their own. Indoors, a small bug every 1 to 2 weeks is plenty for a flytrap, and a lot of plants do fine without feeding at all as long as the light is good. Never feed them human food. My feeding guide.
Once you're comfortable, light fertilizing can really boost growth on healthy plants, especially Nepenthes. Start weak and slow. How I fertilize.
Dormancy
Flytraps and Sarracenia rest in winter. Growth slows, leaves die back, and that's normal. Ideally they get 3 to 4 months at 35 to 50°F (1 to 10°C). Outdoors, winter handles it for you. Indoors, if you can't manage it, skipping it for a couple of years isn't a real problem. It just means slower spring growth. Tropical plants like Nepenthes don't go dormant. More on dormancy.
When Something Goes Wrong
- Traps turning black: normal aging, or a meal that was too big. Read more.
- Tall, floppy growth: not enough light. Read more.
- Traps not closing: usually light, energy, or trap age. Read more.
- Plant looks like it's dying: it may be dormant, or it may need help. Read more.
Stuck? Check light, water, and soil first, in that order. That's the answer nine times out of ten. The mistakes I see most.
Start Simple
Pick one easy plant, give it pure water, the right soil, and a lot of light, and watch what it does for a season. Once you see it thrive, you'll want more. That's how it started for me with one flytrap when I was five. Why I've never lost interest.
Ready to Start Growing?
Beginner classics to record breakers, grown right here in Colorado.
Happy Growing
Jeremiah Harris
Jeremiahsplants.com