More than half of the carnivorous plant species in the United States are native to North Carolina, including pitcher plants, flytraps and sundews.
The Venus flytrap is one of the most fascinating carnivorous plants you can grow. With its unique insect-trapping lobes and striking colors, it’s no wonder this plant has become so popular. One especially eye-catching variety is the blue Venus flytrap. Let’s take a closer look at this unusual plant.
What is the Venus Flytrap?
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a small flowering perennial plant native to the bogs and swamps of North and South Carolina in the United States It gets its name from its unique trapping leaves which snap shut when an insect triggers the sensitive hairs inside The plant then digests the insect to obtain nutrients,
There are over 100 different cultivars of Venus flytraps available, with some having naturally-occurring color variations. The most common are green, red, or a mix of the two. But breeders have also developed unique varieties like the blue Venus flytrap.
Introducing the Stunning Blue Venus Flytrap
The blue Venus flytrap stands out with its icy blue-green leaf lobes and traps The vibrant color is quite a contrast from the usual reds and greens found in this species
This variety was produced using tissue culture propagation techniques. By manipulating the plant tissue hormones, the resulting plants expressed more blue pigmentation.
The blue Venus flytrap has the same growing habits and trapping mechanism as the natural green and red forms. It still relies on catching insects for nutrients rather than fertilizer. The only difference is its striking bluish foliage.
Growing Conditions for Blue Venus Flytraps
Caring for a blue Venus flytrap requires providing specific growing conditions to keep it healthy:
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Soil: Use a peat moss and perlite or peat moss and sand soil mix. Avoid regular potting soil.
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Sun: At least 4-6 hours of direct sun per day. A south-facing window is ideal.
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Water Use distilled water reverse osmosis water, or rainwater only. Keep soil moist not soggy.
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Humidity: Average room humidity is fine. Sitting the pot on a peat tray can increase moisture.
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Temperature: 65-85°F during growth period, 40-55°F in winter dormancy.
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Fertilizer: No fertilizer is needed. Feed with insects instead.
Meeting these care requirements will allow your blue Venus flytrap to thrive indoors or outdoors in warm climates. Pay close attention to sun exposure, soil moisture, and proper water quality.
Feeding Your Blue Venus Flytrap
The blue Venus flytrap feeds the same way as the natural varieties – by trapping small insects or spiders in its leaf lobes. When an insect touches the sensitive hairs inside the lobe, the trap snaps shut.
You can feed your indoor flytrap live insects like flies, ants, mealworms, or crickets. Use tweezers to place one bug at a time inside the lobes, touching the hairs to trigger closing. Avoid overfeeding.
Only feed live insects or bugs to your plant. Never use raw meat or dried dead insects. And don’t feed during dormancy.
Typical Growth Rate and Size
The blue Venus flytrap grows at a similar pace to regular green and red varieties. Under ideal conditions, they can reach sizes of 4 to 5 inches in diameter. The traps themselves are usually about 1 inch wide when fully open.
These are slow growing plants, taking 3 to 5 years to reach maturity. But with proper care, a blue Venus flytrap can live for 20 years or more. It will continually produce new traps to replace old ones.
In winter, the plant will enter dormancy and lose most of its foliage. But it will regrow when temperatures warm up again in spring.
Tips for Growing Blue Venus Flytraps
Here are some useful tips to help your blue Venus flytrap thrive:
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Give the plant at least 4 hours of direct outdoor sun or bright grow light exposure daily.
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Water only with distilled, reverse osmosis, or rain water to avoid mineral buildup.
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Use a tray under the pot to create a moist habitat.
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Feed traps live insects one at a time, avoiding overfeeding.
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Repot annually in fresh peat moss mix, dividing overgrown plants.
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Cut off any flowers that may sap energy from the plant.
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Allow 3-4 months of winter dormancy in a cool location.
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Propagate by dividing roots or removing leaf cuttings.
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Look for new cultivars like ‘Cerberus’ and ‘Poseidon’ when buying plants.
Follow these tips carefully, and your Venus flytrap will reward you with its fascinating traps and icy blue coloration. It makes a great conversation piece for any indoor plant collection.
Why Choose a Blue Venus Flytrap?
Beyond its obvious decorative appeal, the blue Venus flytrap has a few other advantages:
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Provides an easy way to observe insect-eating plants up close. Kids love them!
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Its striking color stands out against other houseplants.
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Traps constantly close and re-open, creating visual interest.
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Less prone to pests thanks to its carnivorous habits.
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A unique gift for gardener friends or plant collectors.
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Can be displayed in an open terrarium or glass container.
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Fun way to learn about growing carnivorous plants.
For these reasons, the blue Venus flytrap is a must-have unusual houseplant for enthusiasts. Just be prepared to provide this fussy plant with the right care it needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions about growing blue Venus flytraps:
How often do I need to feed my flytrap? Feed traps only when they are completely open and ready. One trap can eat 1 insect per 1-2 weeks. Feeding more often will harm the plant.
What causes the traps to turn black? Traps turning black is normal before dormancy in winter. But it can also be caused by overfeeding, drying out, or low temperatures.
Should I remove flowers? Yes, clipping off flower stalks prevents the plant from going into seed production. This allows it to focus energy on trap growth instead.
Can Venus flytraps live outdoors year-round? In zones 8-11, they can stay outdoors all year. In colder zones, they need a winter dormancy period of 3-4 months.
How do I propagate new plants? Propagate Venus flytraps through division of the roots or by removing leaf cuttings. Plant in a peat moss medium.
Why are the trap lobes turning black? Black, mushy lobes are caused by the plant being allowed to dry out. Keep the soil consistently moist.
An Unusual Addition to Your Houseplant Collection
With its unique carnivorous habits and stunning blue color, the Venus flytrap is one of the most distinctive houseplants you can grow. Although it has specific care requirements, this plant is well worth the effort. The blue Venus flytrap is sure to become the highlight of your plant collection!
The Venus Flytrap: A State Symbol
There are state birds, bugs, fish, flowers, and dogs—but North Carolina has a state carnivorous plant. The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is exceptional enough to deserve its own state symbol designation, and due to their rarity, it’s a felony to poach them.
While flytraps are cultivated throughout the world, they are native to only a small area of the coastal plain in North and South Carolina. People even make special pilgrs to North Carolina to see the flytraps. When they arrive, folks soon discover a wealth of special plants, colloquially dubbed meat-eaters, which rely on insects for nutrition.
There are 66 species of carnivorous plants in the United States, and an astounding 36 of them live in North Carolina. Acidic soils, low nutrients, and a high water table provide excellent habitat for carnivorous plants to thrive. These conditions exist in select patches across the state, ranging from longleaf pine savannas in the coastal plain to mountain bogs in the Southern Blue Ridge.
How Carnivorous Plants Trap Their Prey
Carnivorous plants do photosynthesize, but because they live in low-nutrient soils, they must look elsewhere for food. Flytraps close their tiny but mighty jaws around unsuspecting insects, while pitchers trap them in deep cavities filled with digestive liquid. Sundews and butterworts have sticky spots where the bugs get stuck. Bladderworts use suction traps. When aquatic prey touch their tiny hairs, a door opens to a water-filled sac, and insects get sucked inside, snapping the door shut.
Surprisingly, carnivorous plants still benefit from pollination and rely on insects to transfer pollen between flowers. In the case of pitchers and flytraps, this produces some stunning results. It’s common to see bugs hovering suspiciously nearby, perhaps getting a look at whether it’s safe to land. Carnivorous plants are selective, consuming ants and spiders and not bees, but there’s little known about how exactly they distinguish pollinator and prey.
