Carnivorous plants: choosing and growing them according to their habitat

To keep a carnivorous plant alive, grow it as it would grow in its native environment: bog-dwelling carnivorous plants (Sarracenia, Venus flytraps, and temperate sundews) need full sun outdoors, rainwater, and a cool winter, while tropical Nepenthes thrive indoors in warm, humid conditions. Failure is almost always due to tap water, enriched potting soil, or spending winter in a living room.

This guide categorizes carnivorous plants by growing environment, compares seven plants using sourced data, and debunks myths about mosquitoes and giant plants. The outdoor growing of Sarracenia has its own detailed page, and our Nepenthes 'Gaya' illustrates the tropical family.

🌟 Why a carnivorous plant needs neither fertilizer nor meat

A carnivorous plant is a plant that captures and digests small animals, especially insects, to supplement the nutrients that its poor, waterlogged soil does not provide: it therefore needs neither fertilizer nor meat provided by you.

According to the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) carnivorous plant growing guide, most come from nutrient-poor environments and require no fertilization. The RHS page on carnivorous plants states that they die in garden soil, ordinary potting soil, or with any fertilizer.

The RHS Venus flytrap page adds that its traps do not digest inanimate objects like meat or cheese: digestion only continues if they detect the movement of a living prey.

📊 Carnivorous plants compared by growing environment

Carnivorous plants are divided into three growing environments: temperate bog plants to grow outdoors, tropical indoor plants, and small carnivorous plants for bright indoor spaces. The RHS hardiness scale ranges from H1 (under a heated shelter) to H7 (very hardy); H3 means hardy in coastal and mild regions, with a minimum of -5 to 1 °C.

📋 Quick fact sheet

Common guidelines for all carnivorous plants, according to the RHS and NC State.

🪏 How to grow a carnivorous plant in 6 steps

To successfully grow a carnivorous plant, first identify its environment, then provide the water, substrate, and light of that environment, and respect its winter.

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🧭 Which carnivorous plant to choose for your situation?

The right carnivorous plant depends first on where you can grow it: a balcony or garden in full sun is suitable for bog carnivorous plants like Sarracenia, a warm, bright, humid interior for Nepenthes, and a south windowsill for small succulents and Drosera capensis.

📐 Temperate bog carnivorous plants: outdoors all year

Temperate bog carnivorous plants can be grown outdoors all year, in full sun, with the pot in rainwater in season, and a cool winter rest; the Venus flytrap, more sensitive to cold, requires a little more care in winter. The RHS considers Sarracenia, Drosera, and Pinguicula hardy enough to be happy outdoors all year in a sunny spot, and recommends a bell during severe cold.

For the Venus flytrap, NC State considers it hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10 (zone 7: minimums of -17.8 to -12.2 °C) and growable in colder areas with winter protection; the RHS, which grows it indoors, recommends a cooler rest but above 10 °C.

The Venus flytrap is native to an area of approximately 110 km (70 miles) around Wilmington, North Carolina, according to NC State.

For Sarracenia, our Sarracenia (sarracenie) page details varieties, dormancy, and division; for overwintering in a pot, see how to protect plants from frost.

📐 Nepenthes: tropical indoor carnivorous plants

Nepenthes are tropical indoor vines with hanging urns, which grow all year without dormancy and require warmth, bright light without direct sun, and high humidity: it is the carnivorous plant best suited to a heated and bright apartment, provided the air is humidified. NC State counts 197 species, originating from the Seychelles, Madagascar, and tropical Asia to the western Pacific.

The urns often measure 10 to 20 cm; in air that is too dry, they develop poorly or dry out, NC State warns. Water with rainwater without leaving the pot soaking, and remove old urns when they begin to fade, as the RHS recommends.

For lasting humidity, group the plants or use a humidifier: follow our guide to increase air humidity. Most Nepenthes sold are hybrids propagated in culture, according to NC State.

📐 Pinguicula and Drosera capensis: small windowsill carnivorous plants

Succulents (Pinguicula) and Drosera capensis are the easiest small carnivorous plants to keep indoors, on a very bright windowsill. The University of Illinois recommends a mix of two parts peat, one part sand, and one part perlite, with watering through the saucer.

It considers the succulent effective against small insects like fungus gnats or thrips, not against larger insects. The genus Drosera counts at least 250 species according to NC State.

📐 Flies, mosquitoes, giant plant: myths

No, a carnivorous plant does not rid a house of its flies or mosquitoes: it captures a few prey, not a population. NC State reminds that flies only represent about 5% of the Venus flytrap's prey, especially ants, beetles, and spiders, and that digestion takes about 10 days.

Against fungus gnats, a fungus gnat trap is much more effective. As for the "giant carnivorous plant", these are Nepenthes: NC State cites Nepenthes rajah urns of about 30 cm, and Nepenthes gracilis vines of 1.8 to 6 m.

The RHS indicates that some tropical Nepenthes trap frogs, birds, or small rodents in the wild.

🗓️ The calendar of a carnivorous plant

A temperate carnivorous plant grows and hunts from spring to autumn, then rests in the cold in winter; a Nepenthes keeps the same pace all year round, in the warmth. The dionaea flowers in May and June according to NC State, and the Sarracenia purpurea in spring according to the RHS.

📅 Care calendar by season

🐛 The mistakes that kill a carnivorous plant

The mistakes that kill the most carnivorous plants are tap water, enriched potting soil, lack of light and winter in the warmth for temperate species. Here is how to avoid them.

🌿 Our carnivorous plants and what is needed to grow them

Here are our two carnivorous plants, one for each major environment, and the necessary for their substrate.

🔑 Peat, protected species and responsible purchasing

Always buy a carnivorous plant from cultivation, never taken from nature, and never plant it in a natural wetland: several genera are regulated by international trade, some species are threatened, and an introduced carnivore can invade a fragile peat bog.

CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulates the trade of the genera Dionaea, Nepenthes and Sarracenia, listed in its Appendix II according to the CITES carnivorous plant checklist published by Kew in 2001.

This list also places in Appendix I, at its publication date, Nepenthes rajah, Nepenthes khasiana, Sarracenia oreophila, Sarracenia jonesii and Sarracenia alabamensis subsp. alabamensis; check the current status on the CITES Species+ database before any purchase of a botanical species.

Sarracenia purpurea, introduced to France and elsewhere in Europe, became invasive in an English peat bog, hence Kew (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) removed it.

In France, the round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), a plant of acidic peat marshes, is listed on a national protection list according to the INPN (National Inventory of Natural Heritage, MNHN).

Finally, the RHS tested six substrates for Sarracenia: the peat-free mixtures based on sphagnum clearly outperformed peat, and it reminds that protecting peat bogs can make them carbon sinks.

🔑 Carnivorous plants and animals: are they toxic?

The dionaea is not toxic to animals: the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) classifies it as "Non-Toxic to Dogs, Non-Toxic to Cats, Non-Toxic to Horses". We did not find an ASPCA sheet for Sarracenia or Nepenthes; NC State indicates Nepenthes are non-toxic to cats and dogs.

To go further, consult our list of non-toxic plants for cat.

✅ Our tips to succeed with your carnivorous plant

To succeed with your carnivorous plant, respect its environment: Sarracenia and dionaea outdoors in the sun with a cool winter, Nepenthes in the warmth and humidity, small succulents on a bright ledge.

Rainwater, poor substrate and zero fertilizer are good for all, as for the ericaceous plants, other lovers of acidic soil. Find our Nepenthes among our indoor plants and our Sarracenia among our outdoor plants.