Venus Fly traps(Dionaea)

Venus Fly Traps, or (Dionaea), are pretty simple to grow!
Here is the complete (most common) useful info to successfully grow this plant to maturity!






  • Name: Venus Fly Traps or Dionaea
  • Kind: Insectivorous Plant
  • Soil: 2 choices (pure live sphagnum moss or 60% peat moss ans 40% perlite)
  • Light: INDIRECT sunlight (LOTS)
  • Humidity: Low-Medium 40-60%
  • Winter Dormancy: YES 3 1/2 months (winter dormancy consist in putting plant in a sleepy state, having temperature around 4-7˚c for 3 1/2 months) to do so, put a "saran wrap" over your plant (this will take care of the humidity) then put it in the fridge, once in a while (2 perhaps 3 times per month) add very little water on the soil so it keeps being moist.

Other Information: Even if dionAea are one of the most known and cultured carnivorous plant, they are rather hard to grow. Introduced about 10 years ago in commercial markets, most sold dioneas are now "tissue cultured" or "cloned", grown in a media without bacteria, plants are growing much faster at a lower price!

The registered cultivars (cultivated varieties) include (name of originator in brackets):
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Akai Ryu'{Ron Gagliardo}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'B52' {Henning Von Schmeling}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Big Mouth' {Tony Camilleri}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Bohemian Garnet' {Miroslav Srba}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Clayton's Red Sunset' {Colin Clayton}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Cupped Trap' {Staff at Agri-Starts III Inc, Eustis, FL.}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Clumping Cultivar' {D'Amato}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Dentate' {D'Amato}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Dentate Traps' {Barry Meyers-Rice}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Dente' {D'Amato}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Fused Tooth' {D'Amato}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Green Dragon' {Unknown}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Holland Red' {Commercial breeder in the Netherlands}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Jaws' {Leo Song Jr.}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Justina Davis' {Unknown}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Kinchyaku' {Katsuhiko Kondo}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Louchapates' {Romuald Anfraix}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Microdent' {Gayl Quenon}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Perlite Dragon' {Unknown}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Red Burgundy' {Unknown}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Red Piranha' {Ed Read}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Red Rosetted' {D'Amato}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Royal Red' {AUPBR 464}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Sawtooth' {Barry Meyers-Rice}
  • Dionaea muscipula 'Wacky Traps' {Cresco Nursery, Netherlands}
An unofficial list includes many more names, with more added annually. None of these "variation names" are officially recognized unless the name is properly documented, registered and accepted by the International Registration Authority for carnivorous plant cultivars, the International Carnivorous Plant Society.
"Taken from Wikipedia"
Picture taken from "http://www.plantes-carnivores01.com/" ©