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| Photo Credit: Barry Rice/sarracenia.com |
| ‘Jaws’ is a fine Venus flytrap cultivar…that’s very hungry. |
So let me guess what happened: You were at a grocery store or plant nursery, and you saw a tiny plastic cup printed with snarling plant graphics that contained an interesting little carnivorous Venus flytrap. You bought it, and now you want to know how to keep it alive. (Am I right?)
The truth is that it’ll be easier for you to kill your new little plant than it will be to keep it alive. But the good news is that you can keep it alive – and even have it thrive. First (and I kid you not), you must forget whatever the clerk at the store told you. Bless their hearts, most nursery professionals and grocery store employees hardly ever know how to grow a Venus flytrap. So don’t believe anything they might have told you about windowsills or “bits of hamburger meat.” Next, try to put thoughts of feeding your plant out of your mind. I know, I know – you bought the monster so you and the kids can see it eat bugs. But the fact is that your plant doesn’t really need to eat meat. Yes, a bit of animal flesh from time to time will benefit your plant, but only a healthy Venus flytrap can actually digest prey. If you aren’t growing your flytrap very well, a bug in the trap will actually hurt it! | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Barry Rice/sarracenia.com | | With plenty of light, Venus flytraps can turn bright red. |
The No. 1 thing your plant needs more than anything else is plenty of sunlight. In the wild, flytraps grow in open sites under full sun. A kitchen windowsill is just not bright enough for them. If you can, the best thing you can do is keep the plant outside in full sun. Growing it indoors is possible, but bear in mind that doing so puts your flytrap under a great deal of stress, so it’s likely to do poorly. Your best chance for indoor plant survival is to put your flytrap in the very brightest window of your home, where it can get as much direct sun as possible. (Don’t even think about a north-facing window, unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere!)
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