Eight tips for caring for your carnivorous plants

Able to thrive in the most hostile environments, carnivorous plants often find it harder to survive when cultivated. Have you already killed a nepenthe and would like to avoid doing it again? Have you just adopted a Sarracenia and would like to keep it alive? Here are eight simple maintenance tips to help your carnivorous plants flourish and multiply.

Carnivorous plants love water. They like to live in humid environments and keep their feet wet. But they can only tolerate pure water. You can water with :

Never water with tap water. It contains chlorine and limescale, which your plant cannot tolerate. Mineral water should also be avoided. They contain mineral salts and nutrients that are unsuitable for carnivorous plants. Finally, there's no point in getting water from the river behind your house. It's bound to contain harmful minerals.

Your carnivorous plant won't succumb immediately if you water it with mains or bottled water. But as nutrients, limescale and mineral salts accumulate in the substrate, they will gradually poison your plant. It will first slow down its growth, then wither away.

Pitcher plants, dionia and nepenthe are often sold in the houseplant aisle. However, not all of them are made to live in the warmth of our homes and apartments. Quite the contrary, in fact. Some, like dionaea muscipula (Dionaea muscipula) or Darlingtonia californica, tolerate cold temperatures down to -10°C. Others, like Drosera rotundifolia or Sarracenia alata, can withstand temperatures as low as -15°C.

Hardy carnivorous plants and those in temperate zones need to spend the winter in a cool place. This corresponds to their life cycle. They go into hibernation, stop producing leaves and traps before resuming growth in spring. Keeping them indoors disrupts their natural rhythm and hinders their development.

Other carnivorous plants, such as Plains Nepenthes (Nepenthes truncata, mirabilis or gracilis), live all year round in a warm climate. They can't tolerate temperatures below 10°C and don't really rest. They keep their foliage in winter, and can continue to produce new leaves even when the days get shorter. You can grow them indoors without worry.

Before adopting a carnivorous plant, find out what it needs. If it's a hardy tropical variety, you can keep it indoors all year round. Otherwise, make sure you have an outdoor space (garden or balcony) in which to place it, and possibly an unheated shelter (greenhouse, garage, etc.) where it can spend the winter.

Would you like to grow your carnivorous plants in a terrarium? Make sure you meet their specific requirements. Only tropical varieties will do well in a closed, unregulated terrarium.

Plastic pots are the best choice for repotting carnivorous plants. Waterproof, they don't absorb water and don't release any substances into the soil. Terracotta pots, on the other hand, are porous. They retain minerals when watered, then release them into the substrate. These elements accumulate and their concentration eventually harms your plant. If you've used peat moss or sphagnum moss, they will also degrade the quality of your growing medium.

Another argument in favor of plastic pots: the potting soil dries more slowly. A boon for carnivorous plants that love moisture. By choosing this material over terracotta, you reduce the frequency of watering.

Most gardeners opt for plastic containers. But you can also buy an enamelled or varnished pot. Be careful, however, if your carnivorous plants spend the winter outdoors. Wet peat can freeze, increasing the volume of the substrate. With a plastic pot, the material deforms. But with a glazed or varnished terracotta pot, the pressure can become too great. It's not uncommon for the pot to crack or break.

We also recommend a light-colored pot rather than a black or dark model. This will prevent the mercury from rising in the pot at root level in summer. Plastic heats up more than terracotta. Between the sun and the albedo effect, the temperature inside a dark container can exceed 40°C. A light-colored container stores less heat and keeps the substrate and roots cooler.

Don't hesitate to think big when repotting a carnivorous plant. Choose a wide, tall pot. Most varieties have a deep root system and produce shoots at the base. In a large enough container, they'll have enough room to develop their roots and multiply. Finally, in a large pot, water evaporates more slowly and the substrate stays moist longer.

A two-liter pot with a diameter of sixteen centimeters and a height of fifteen centimeters is suitable for repotting one or two carnivorous plants. If you want to combine several specimens to achieve a fuller effect, opt for four-liter pots.

This advice applies to all terrestrial carnivorous plants except those belonging to the Pinguicula genus. They have a shallow root system.

Carnivorous plants need a lot of light to thrive. Most species cannot tolerate part shade. Whether outdoors or indoors, they appreciate sunny exposure.

Sunlight not only affects their growth, but also their appearance. The color of urns, leaves or traps is brighter when the plant is well exposed. The limbs of Drosera binata, for example, turn a blazing red when it gets enough light. And without enough light, your Dionée attrape-mouche 'Red Dragon will look like a green lizard... Light is also important in inducing flowering. If your plant doesn't get its fair share of sunlight, it's unlikely to produce flowers.

Almost all carnivorous plants require a sunny spot. However, some prefer part shade. To help you find the right spot for each one, check out our growing guides and care tips on the Monstera app. Each time, we'll tell you the recommended exposure for each variety.

Carnivores are used to growing on poor soil, in bogs that contain little or no nutrients. They don't feed on their roots like most plants. They draw the elements they need from the insects they capture.

That's why you shouldn't fertilize the substrate. Fertilizers are not adapted to the requirements of carnivorous plants. Their nutrients are not consumed and accumulate in the growing medium. As with tap water, they eventually kill the plant.

Whether outdoors or indoors, carnivorous plants can attract and capture insects thanks to their traps.

Feeding your plant yourself will do it more harm than good. You risk force-feeding it and causing indigestion. And it's even worse if you feed it an insect that's already dead. The trap and digestion process are only activated when the prey moves. With an inert animal, the digestive juices won't kick in. The unfortunate animal decomposes itself, producing numerous waste products that are toxic to the plant.

Carnivorous plants are able to sustain themselves even in a closed terrarium. After a few days or weeks, insects appear. If this isn't the case, don't feed your plant yourself. Just open the jar and let nature take its course.

The main cause of death for carnivorous plants, on a par with poor watering, is undoubtedly our curiosity. We've all wanted to stimulate the trap of a Drosera binata to see how it works, or dip our finger into the urn of a Sarracenia, just to test it out. This is actually a very bad idea.

The leaves of some species, such as Dionaea muscipula, complete a limited number of capture/digestion cycles before dying. They are replaced by others as the plant grows. By activating the trap, you weaken the plant and give it no time to renew itself.