Basic Care for Carnivorous Plants

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Venus Flytrap

Dionaea muscipula

Cape Sundew

Drosera capensis (not winter hardy)

Round-leafed sundew

Drosera rotundifolia

Yellow butterwort

Pinguicula lutea

By Bob Peterson from North Palm Beach, Florida, Planet Earth! [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Yellow trumpet

Sarracenia flava

White top trumpet

Sarracenia leucophylla

Hooded pitcher plant

Sarracenia minor

By NoahElhardt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Purple pitcher plant

Sarracenia purpurea

Red pitcher plant

Sarracenia rubra

By NoahElhardt . GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

PLANTS ARE PERENNIAL AND GO DORMANT IN COOLER MONTHS

• DO NOT USE CHLORINATED WATER. If your water is chlorinated, please allow it to sit for 48 hours before using.

• Give your plant as much sunlight as possible. If inside, preferably a southern exposure

• You may put the plant in full sun outside during warmer months. Frost will not harm the plant but freezing will cause damage. Plants are perennial when planted in the ground but will go dormant in cooler months.

• Your plant must remain wet at all times. If left in container, leave container sitting in 1/2 to 1 inch of water. Most plants can remain in their container for up to two years. When you repot it use only peat moss.

• If a pest such as aphids, mealy bugs, scale, fungus gnats, etc., appear on your plant, then you may treat it with Neem Oil, or a rose pesticide containing pyrethrins and sulfur.

• If you leave your plant in its container, it may be brought inside during the winter. Trimmed to 1/2 to 1 inch from the soil level, planed in a plastic bag and stored in the refrigerator until spring.

• DO NOT FERTILIZE YOUR PLANT. They will catch everything they need to survive. If you have the plant inside, you may catch insects and feed to the plant yourself; do not use hamburger as a substitute. It is not a complete meal.

• With the Venus Flytrap, the trap will only open and close a certain number of times before it dies and is replaced by a new one. If you want to see the trap close, please use an insect. After being fed, the trap will remain closed for at least one week.