The carnivorous garden - Taking care of your carnivorous plants at home

Back in 2009 when i was younger i met two of my best friends Carlos and Julian, they where 10 years older than me and we got friends instantly. I wanted a carnivorous plant since i was a kid, but it was really difficut to get one in my country.

Searching in the internet i found Colina Carnivora, the first carnivorous plant nursery in Colombia. They had the most amazing garden i ever seen in my life, one with a LOT of carnivorous plants (CP's) even ones that i never imagined.

Of course, as a begginer in the CP's i got the beautiful Venus Flytrap, the most iconic CP but one of the most difficult to grow indoors

Saddly, and because my lack of experiencie, too much food and poor sunlight made my first plant die in the nex few weeks :(

I didnt wanted to give up, so i got some plants from my friends, this time i brought home another Venus flytrap, Drosera capensis and Nepenthes northiana hybrid

Those ones were a little bit tricky but i managed to make them live in my home and grow bigger, there are some tips for you people.

Taking care of your CP's is really easy when you understand what nature is doing for millions of years.

The first tip that apply to any carnivorous plant is the water, it's one of the most important things because they are really sensitive to any minerals, metals, potable water chemicals like Fluoride and chloride. So What do i need to do with the water?

Easy, If you are using tub water, just let it to soften or ''rest'' for a few days since you get from the tube, it will be less hard and your plants will thank you.

What if i got rainwater? It's the best for your plants because it's naturally distilled without any mineral or chem.

Using softened water of rainwater also allows your plants to have brighter colors in combination with enough sunlight

So, what is the next tip?

A lot of light! yes, photosyntesis is the main source of energy for any plant, incluiding carnivorous ones, if you want vivid colors, strong and fast traps you will need to guarantee your plant a lot of light during the day. Best source is the sun, 8+ hours of direct light are enough to have beautiful plants

Example of venus flytrap with 8hours of direct sunlight

What if i dont have that amount of sunlight in my home?

Just think, they literally transforms Light into food, so, almost any source of light will help them.

Of course there are a lot of specialized Grow led lighting, UV bulbs and full spectrum flourescent tubes but it is expensive as hell, my solution, using common 6500k 30w leds in combination with natural light allows my plants to grow well and healthy

this is one of my King Henry's flytraps, it was grown since it was a baby under a 30w 6500k led during 10h in a day.

What about the food? it's a carnivorous plant right? i must be eating meat or something else?

Well, ''food'' is one of that things that your plant doesnt care too much, insects are a good souce of nitrogen and other minerals but your plant doest starve like an human if it doesnt catch food, 1 insect could feed your plant for a couple of weeks and is not mandatory for your plant to keep alive.

That's all for now, i hope you enjoyed and let me know if you want to learn more about carnivorous plants.