Venus Flytrap (Dionaea) Cultivation Information

        Venus Flytrap cultivation can be tricky to pin down for all growing methods. Their needs vary whether you're growing them indoors or outdoors, with or without dormancy, and if you allow them to flower. While the different lifecycle stages have similar needs, they do have slight differences that are tricky for beginners and often omitted by grow guide. This is why it's important to have an idea of where you want to grow your Dionaea.

        Germinating Venus Flytrap seeds is a rather straight forward example of cold stratification. They require 2-4 weeks of cold temperatures to stimulate good germination rates. Seeds can sprout without treatment, but they will do so sporadically over an incredibly long period of time. Most untreated seed will never germinate. To accomplish this, use a container with wet peat moss or your preferred mix. Spread the seeds evenly along the surface and close the container. Leave the container in your refrigerator for 2-4 weeks. Pull out the container and put it under lights. You may need to replace the cover of plastic kitchen with clear plastic wrap if the current cover is not transparent enough for light to pass through. Crack the lid or poke a few small holes into the plastic wrap to allow for airflow. Keep moist and in shaded to bright light. Germination should take between 2-4 weeks for most of the seeds after treatment. Keep the seeds and freshly germinated seedling in 60%-70% humidity, always with a moist medium, and between 65F-85F. After a few weeks the humidity can be reduced to 50-60% to lower fungus or algae growth. It is possible in climate ranges similar to the Carolinas to sow the seeds directly onto medium in the fall and have nature treat the seeds for you. In climates colder this isn't recommended as too cold of temperatures can damage seeds.

        Seedlings are incredibly tiny and can be very hard to feed properly. I use a pipette to feed Venus Flytraps, but will opt to foliar feed with 200PPM for smaller seedlings. During the first year of growth, feeding is difficult. This leads to inconsistent growth between seedlings as their ability to access nutrition directly effects their growth rates. If you are growing outside or intend for them to go dormant, I would highly suggest skipping dormancy for at least the first year and a half of the plant's life. Usually at these sizes it can be fatal if the temperature swings low enough. Instead, I recommend growing them indoors as directed in the next section. Seedlings around a year old can handle adult conditions of 30%-60% humidity, intense bright light, and temperatures ranging from 25F-100F. From this age on, they demonstrate much more hardiness than the freshly germinated plants but are not quite mature as they are not flowering. This stage can last several years or be skipped entirely with perfect conditions.

        For plants that are 2-3 years old, you have a choice of how you want to address dormancy. In any climate or growing set up, you can uproot them and place them in a bag in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. If you're growing outside in a climate similar to the Carolinas, you can leave them to nature. If growing outside in areas colder than the Carolinas, you can let them go dormant during the earlier parts of fall and pull them indoors or in a warm garage. Temperatures lower than 25F can be fatal to flytraps, especially when potted. In bog gardens they're much more protected as the ground provides some heat ambient heat even in winter. Bog gardens in areas that experience as low as -10F can use straw to cover the plants at the onset of winter once they are dormant. If placed thick enough, the bacteria that breaks down the straw will provide heat. This coupled with the straw acting like insolation can raise the temperature enough to allow the Venus Flytraps to survive.

        The newest method I want to purpose is one I've found through trial and error. If you use blue or white LED lighting above 350ppfd, with 14 or more hours on, keep temperatures above 68F, and maintain heavy feeding that you can avoid dormancy altogether. There are naturalized populations of Venus Flytraps in tropical areas, such as Jamaica, that would normally never experience dormancy. From these populations we can conclude that Dionaea dormancy is an adaptation and not a requirement. With indoor growing becoming more common, so should Venus Flytraps in those collections. This method maintains the vigorous late spring and early summer growth of the flytraps, and care should be taken to give those conditions throughout the winter.

        The adult phase a Venus Flytrap's life starts when it first flowers. When growing outdoors this occurs after dormancy. Indoors you will need to reduce the light cycle to under 11.5 hours of on lighting for at least a month. Returning to 14 hours of lighting over the course of another month will replicate the movement and lighting time from the sun that they'd see in the wild. This triggers the spring flowering response. I suspect this habit of flowering immediately after having an increase in lighting is directly responsible for the “death blooms” commonly seen on newly purchased Venus Flytraps. If you recently purchased a Venus Flytrap from the two particularly large hardware retailers or a large chain grocery store, expect this problem. Cut these death blooms off of newly purchased plants. Mature and healthy specimens can flower without much an issue.

        Cutting flowers will encourage the plant to immediately start trap development and divide in older plants. Take care to cut flowers as soon as possible if you're more focused on trap development. I've seen Venus Flytrap flowers grow in water after being cut only a few inches tall and finish their bloom. The old thought process that cutting flowers off to save energy is likely a misconception. The plants are forced back into the vegetative phase, which is why growth improves. Usually by the time a new grower notices a bloom sticking up a few inches, it's already received enough energy to finish the bloom attached to the plant or not.

 

Propagation

        Venus Flytraps are rather easy to propagate. Naturally, they'll divide when mature, usually once or twice a year. These plants can be uprooted usually in the late winter before dormancy breaks and be split apart. If you're growing without dormancy, make sure to be as gentle as possible to the root system. The plants will have distorted growth for a few months if the black wire like roots are broken. The divisions will be distinct from the center mother plant and should pull apart easily. If they're too closely fused together, wait another 6 months to a year before dividing. You should be able to make the division without harming the mother plant's roots or rosette. Single leaves will fall off, which I suggest you save for the next method. Divisions recover within a few weeks to a few months depending on their size and how developed they were before dividing.

        Cloning using water propagation is my preferred method of making more Venus Flytraps. Take a healthy leaf on the outside edge of the plant. Pull straight down in the middle to peel the leaf off of the central rhizome. There should be white on the tip closest to the center if done right. This white is known as a stipule, which has the meristem tissue that can make new plants form. The green of the leaf will provide this small section with energy to grow a new baby plant, so make sure to try and get the entire leaf. Place the leaf (or leaves) in a container with water and seal. Keep under lights or in a sunny location, avoiding temperatures beyond 65F-80F. 72-75F seems to give me the best success. After about a month to two months, small lumps should form on the stipule. These will form small flytraps, and once you see traps remove the leaves. Plant onto your preferred medium and keep under a bag or in a dome around 80-90% humidity for 2-3 weeks. As they establish and form roots you can slowly reduce the humidity by opening the bag or dome gradually over the course of another 2 weeks. Treat like freshly germinated seedlings, though these clones will often grow much faster than seedlings.

        To pollinate Venus Flytraps, you can take a cotton swab or small brush to move pollen from the yellow anthers to the white stigmas. If you can see the yellow pollen on the whites of the stigma, you have succeeded. Venus Flytraps can be self pollinated, but for maximum seed yield two genetically different parents should be used. Seed development can take 2-6 months depending on conditions and care. Seeds are ready once the seed pod is brown and cracking. The black seeds will be peaking through the crack, so take care when removing them. They'll scatter everywhere if you're not prepared!