Best Venus Fly Traps Reviewed by Our Team

Venus Flytraps use delicious nectar to lure their prey. An electric charge shuts the trap, its interlocking teeth producing a cage, when you touch a trigger hair twice or two hairs in short succession. The trap will seal if the insect continues to fight, at which time digestive enzymes will destroy the victim's delicate tissues. The trap absorbs the nourishing soup and, after approximately a week, reopens, attracting more visitors with the carcass. Here's a guide to buying them.

What are the things to consider before buying a Venus fly trap?

Growing location

Venus Flytraps require direct sunshine to thrive. If you're growing your plant inside, select a sunny windowsill with plenty of light, particularly south-facing if you're in the UK. Your flytrap's leaves will grow weak and floppy as a result of insufficient sunlight, and the insides of its traps will be devoid of red coloration. They don't need a terrarium to thrive. However, they do benefit from the increased humidity of the enclosed habitat. They may live happily in terrariums if their winter dormancy needs are met, and enough light is given. Artificial illumination, particularly high-powered fluorescents like T5 grow lights, can be effective.

Flowers and seeds

Venus Flytraps blossom in the spring, but unless you're a seasoned grower who wants to harvest seed, you should cut off the flower stalk after it reaches approximately 5 cm in height. Flowering is taxing for Venus Flytraps, and most plants will grow more aggressively throughout the summer if they aren't allowed to open.

Feeding

Venus Flytraps will capture more than enough food if they are cultivated outside. If you keep your plants indoors, you may feed them dead or live insects, but only after you've taken care of all of their other growth requirements. After the trap has closed, the trigger hairs must be triggered in order for Venus Flytraps to digest their meal correctly. This prevents the plant from wasting energy digesting non-edible materials that may have gotten stuck in the trap.

What are the factors to look for while buying a venus fly trap?

Humidity

Venus flytraps prefer humidity. Thus they thrive in terrariums, and however, they can also thrive outside of them. As a result, they enjoy greenhouses and conservatories as well.

Winter dormancy

Place your venus flytrap somewhere chilly from November to February so it may fall dormant for the winter. It will lose its leaves, which will become black and die back. Remove any dead leaves and, if necessary, re-pot the plant in March before it starts to grow again.

Water

Many people wonder if tap water would kill a venus flytrap when they first start out, and the answer is yes. Venus flytraps cannot drink tap water because minerals will build up and destroy them. They require clean water. Feed them with rainwater or purified water. During the summer, keep venus fly traps submerged in 1cm of water to keep them hydrated. They should not be watered from above. The soil just needs to be moist, not wet, throughout the dormant winter months.

Soil

Venus flytraps must be planted in a high-acidity sphagnum-based soil mix. This may be purchased specifically for your plant. No fertilizer should be added to the soil.

What are the types of Venus fly traps?

There are several kinds and cultivars of this plant available for purchase and planting. However, they are virtually extinct in the United States. North and South Carolina are home to the native variety. These beautiful plants lure insects with delicious nectar, and when these naïve bugs contact the plant's hairs inside the trap, it locks on them.

“Bohemian Garnet” Dionaea muscipula

This Venus flytrap plant is a 2007 hybrid between Dionaea' Royal Red' and Dionaea' Sawtooth.' It possesses the red color of the Royal Red plant, but the rest of the features are all from the Sawtooth plant. Miroslav Srba named it after the Czech Republic, where it was discovered. It is just 1.6 to 2.4 inches wide. It is known as Dionaea' esk Granát' in their language.

"Fused Tooth" Muscipula Dionaea 

The webbed teeth that are visible throughout the summer are the most prominent feature of the Fused Tooth. It looks like any other Venus flytrap plant in the winter, and Peter D'Amato described it in his book The Savage Garden in 1998.

"Sawtooth" Dionaea muscipula

The teeth of this Venus flytrap are deep and split, and it was first reported in 2000 in its native North Carolina environment. It is crimson all around, with serrations on the traps' edges. This Venus flytrap is much smaller and takes much longer to grow than regular Venus flytraps. It seldom grows larger than 2 to 3 inches in diameter.

"Wacky Traps" Dionaea muscipula

Cresco Nursery, based in the Netherlands, used tissue culture to clone this Venus flytrap plant. Mike Ross stumbled across it in a plate of mutant blooms. It has a resemblance to Bart Simpson's hair from The Simpsons and is occasionally referred to as such. It has strong petioles and traps and grows slowly. It has a difficult time shutting its trap quickly. When the hairs in the trap's "mouth" are activated, it takes the trap a long time to close. This plant was formally registered with the International Carnivorous Plant Society by Barry Rice in 2006.

"Big Mouth" Dionaea muscipula

The humorous name comes from the fact that this Venus flytrap plant has a huge mouth. Petioles, the leafy stalks that are part of the trap but in the soil, stand erect on this plant, which bears enormous, red-mouth-shaped traps. The petioles on this Venus flytrap are constantly short, so it resembles fangs and mouths waiting for its next meal as it develops. The inside of the trap is a deep crimson, while the outside is generally green. Some of the traps have a crimson color that extends beyond the teeth' border.

Where are Venus fly traps commonly found?

The Venus flytrap is native to North and South Carolina, although it has spread to neighboring states such as Florida and New Jersey. In many areas of the globe, it is popular as a potted plant, although most of the Venus flytraps marketed have been grown or taken from diminishing natural populations. The plant thrives in nutrient-depleted, wet, acidic soil. To survive, Venus flytraps require an open understory (the portion of the forest beneath the canopy). Natural fires that sweep over and burn away portions of trees and bushes help to keep the understory open. Since these flames may become harmful to humans, we typically put them out before they can aid the forests. As a result, the sun-loving Venus flytrap's habitat starts decreasing.