New to carnivorous plants? Care depends a lot on the type of plant — tap any plant below for its full care guide. A couple of essentials apply to all of them first.
Two rules apply to every carnivorous plant, no exceptions. Water only with rain, distilled, or reverse-osmosis water — tap and bottled water carry minerals that slowly kill them. And pot only in nutrient-free soil — peat or long-fiber sphagnum with perlite or silica sand, never standard or fertilized potting mix. Everything else depends on the plant.
North American pitcher plants are sun-worshippers — give them the brightest, most direct spot you have. Stand the pot in mineral-free water, give a real winter dormancy, and they thrive.
Easy outdoors Full care guide →The “monkey cups” are tropical — warmth year-round and never any frost. Bright indirect light, soil kept damp but not soaked, no winter dormancy.
Moderate Full care guide →The fussy one. Cobra lilies want cool roots — they sulk in prolonged heat and prefer their soil flushed with cool, mineral-free water. Best once you’ve kept an easier carnivore alive.
Advanced Full care guide →Full, direct sun and a tray of mineral-free water. Flytraps need a cold winter dormancy — they’ll blacken and die back, which is normal. Don’t trigger the traps for fun.
Easy Full care guide →Small, slow, and tougher than it looks once settled. Bright light, shelter from extreme heat, an airy well-drained mix kept damp — not waterlogged.
Moderate Full care guide →Bright light and a beginner-friendly nature. Mexican butterworts dry slightly between waterings and rest semi-dry in winter; temperate types stay wet year-round.
Easy Full care guide →Bright light keeps the dew sparkling. Keep constantly wet in a water tray. Subtropical sundews like the Cape sundew grow year-round and are nearly unkillable.
Great starter Full care guide →Possibly the lowest-maintenance carnivore of all. Most terrestrial bladderworts simply want to sit constantly wet in nutrient-free soil with bright light.
Easiest Full care guide →Carnivorous plants are wildly diverse. Within every group, individual species can have their own specific needs — particular light levels, temperatures, dormancy triggers, or water depth — that aren’t covered here. Treat this as a starting point: check a species-specific guide, or ask the community, before committing to a particular plant.
Overwintering, summer heat, repotting, coaxing a sulking cobra lily — the specifics that depend on growing here in the Kansas City metro are exactly what our meetups and Grow Data project are for. Bring your questions to the bog.