Basic Growing Instructions For All Carnivorous Plants
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These growing instructions should give you a basic idea of the conditions you need to provide in
order to successfully grow carnivorous plants.
Soil
Carnivorous plants eat insects for a reason - they live in extremely poor soil with little or no
nitrogen or other nutrients. As a consequence, they have sensitive roots and should never be
fertilised. Most people use some kind of fresh or dry sphagnum moss for their carnivorous plants.
The plants also like a higher-than-normal acid content in their soil, and sphagnum or "peat" moss
will provide this as it decays. Some people also add some sand to the soil mixture or a medium
grade orchid bark. If you buy dry peat moss hold a clump of it in your hand and submerge it under
water, then squeeze all of the air out of it. If you do not do this it will take a long time before the
peat moss takes on and holds water.
Water
Carnivorous plants usually live in bogs where they are always moist and they only get natural rainwater. Therefore you should
always keep their soil damp but not soaking and you should only use water with no minerals in it, because minerals can build
up in the soil and damage the roots of your plant. The best water to use is distilled water. Alternatively, try setting out a bucket
and collecting rainwater away from a place that gets roof run off (water coming off the roof picks up minerals ).
Humidity
Most carnivorous plants require a relatively high humidity of between 50 - 90 percent. This makes a terrarium an exeunt place
to grow carnivorous plants. However it is not a good idea to seal up the terrarium, because most plants need some air
circulation, except the nepenthes ( tropical pitcher plants ) which will thrive in stagnant air. Even when growing nepenthes, it is
still not a good idea to seal the terrarium because high humidity and still air also make the perfect place for fungus to grow -
and fungus can wipe out a colony of carnivorous plants with devastating speed. Some carnivorous plants will also do very
good on a windowsill, like the American pitcher plants, which in my opinion are a great starter plant for a beginner.
Light
Most carnivorous plants require bright light or almost full sun. If you are keeping them on a window sill it should be one that
faces South (or North in the Southern hemisphere). If you are keeping them in a terrarium you should use several cool white
fluorescent bulbs - never use incandescent bulbs because they throw off way too much heat for your plants.
Dormancy
Some carnivorous plants need a period when they can go dormant. Most will just stop growing for several months, others will
die back to nothing but underground tubers and roots. Some people make the mistake of throwing them out when this happens
because they think their plants have died.
Temperature
Even though carnivorous plants require bright light and high humidity, this does not mean that they need extremely hot
conditions in order to do well. Most are comfortable between 70 and 90 F (21 - 32 C). Tropicals can go up to 100 F (38 C)
without being uncomfortable. In the winter most carnivorous plants can go down to 50 F (10 C) and not show any signs of damage.
Fertiliser
Carnivorous Plants will quickly die if fertilized. However, I am convinced that a product known as SUPERthrive is ok. It is not
a fertiliser but is a mixture of vitamins and hormones that are good for carnivorous plants. One drop of superthrive should be
mixed to a gallon of water for normal watering and five drops to a gallon for watering right after re-potting. Also, when carnivorous plants flower it drains a lot
of energy out of them and it is ok to use mild ORGANIC FERTILIZER such as:
Fish Emulsion
Bone Meal
Dried Blood
This should give you some idea of the conditions you have to provide to grow carnivorous plants.