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Learning how often to water a venus fly trap is incredibly important to ensure that you are keeping a healthy and strong plant. I’m glad you stopped by to learn more about watering a venus fly trap and things you can do to make sure you flytrap is always getting exactly what it needs.
Lets really dig in and talk about how often you should water a venus fly trap. We will discuss the importance of always keeping your flytrap perfectly wet to quench it’s thirst.
Also, real quick, if you are interested in my ultimate venus flytrap care guide, definitely check it out below. I have put everything you will ever need to know about caring for venus fly traps!
Ultimate Venus Fly Trap Care Guide
How Often To Water A Venus Fly Trap
Before I answer this, I wanted to point out that the type of water is just as important as how often you water. Keep reading below where I talk about the type of water you need to use for a venus flytrap.
The quick answer to how often to water a venus fly trap is to water the plant until it’s fully moist but not soggy. The easiest way is to use a tray. You can actually add the water to the tray, about 1 inch deep. When the water in the tray dries out you add more. This will make sure the soil has a chance to breathe and keep the roots of the venus flytrap healthy.
That is the quick answer we will dig in deeper below. But first, lets talk about the type of water your venus flytrap needs. This is probably more important than how much water.
Real quick, I just wanted to mention that I have some other really great and in depth guides for taking care of a venus flytrap. Check them out below!
How Does A Venus Flytrap Work?
Venus Flytrap Soil Mix And Potting (Maybe one of the most important things to note)
Picking A Pot or Planter For Venus Flytrap
Venus Flytrap Dormancy (Yes, they hibernate and yes you need to know about it!)
What Type Of Water For A Venus Flytrap
The type of water you give your venus flytrap is actually more important than how often you water a venus flytrap. You want to make sure you are only using distilled water, rainwater or reverse osmosis water.
I’m going to go over each of the different types below but wanted to talk a little bit about why these types of water are used instead of tap water. Tap water contains dissolved minerals commonly referred to as dissolved solids.
Tap water can contain sodium, alkaline salts, calcium, chlorine, sulfur and magnesium. You are filtering your tap water, right? These minerals in your water will lead to your venus flytrap living a very unhealthy life and possibly even killing it. The problem is, this water slowly kills your plant and does it’s damage over time. At first everything will seem fine, but you will eventually see the effects of tap water.
The information above is for typical tap water. If you get water from a well or have a very pure water supply you might be able to get away with it. You will want to make sure that your water measures at less than 50 PPM (Parts Per Million). If you don’t want to worry about testing your water I wouldn’t gamble, I would use one of the water methods below.
Have you ever tested your tap water? If not, I recommend you do. You can actually get a meter on Amazon that does the testing for you! And its only like $14. You can check it out below.
TDS Meter To Test Your Tap Water
Rainwater
We try to collect as much rainwater as possible being from the Northwest. You can check out some cool systems to get your started on collecting rainwater below. Click the link below to go to amazon to see price and watch their video to see how easy it is to install the rainwater collection system. I will be doing my own video and article on this at a later date!
The barrel is neat too, it comes in a few different colors!
Rainwater Collection System On Amazon
Rainwater Collection Barrel
You can get a really nice rainwater setup for your venus flytraps, carnivorous plants or other kinds of plants for well under the $200 mark. It does require little bit of work but it’s totally worth it! Please check back soon for my full setup and tutorial!
Distilled
If your not into the whole collecting rainwater thing, I totally understand. A lot of us just don’t have the time to do something like that, and that is completely fine! You can buy distilled water.
You can just run to most grocery stores or one stop shop places like Walmart to buy distilled water, and it’s fairly inexpensive. It is inconvenient to run to the store however. If you want, you can actually buy distilled water right off Amazon!
Distilled Water On Amazon.
Reverse Osmosis Water System
If you want the best water to come out of your faucet for not only your venus flytrap and other carnivorous or house plants but for your family and pets to drink, a reverse osmosis water system is where it’s at!
These can be installed under your sink and will really help filter out the impurities in your water before it hits your tap. These area little pricey but for what you get from it, it’s so worth it! Whether you are considering this option for your venus flytrap or just to have better drinking water, it’s worth a look! Check out the video at the product page on Amazon below, it explains how it works!
Reverse Osmosis Water System On Amazon
Now that we have talked about the best types of water for a venus fly trap lets talk more about how to water a venus fly trap and how often to water a venus flytrap.
How To Water A Venus Flytrap
Were going to talk a lot about watering below but keep in mind that the pot you choose for your venus flytrap and the soil mixture your plant is living in can make or break your plant, even if your watering is perfect. I took a lot of time to write up guides on both below!
Venus Flytrap Soil Mix And Potting (Maybe one of the most important things to note)
Picking A Pot or Planter For Venus Flytrap
Typically, during the active growing season for the venus fly trap it’s pretty hot outside. Its incredibly important to keep a close eye on your flytrap during the hot summer months. You never want your plant to dry completely out. The soil for your venus flytrap should always be moist.
Make sure that the soil is not over watered and is soggy or completely waterlogged. It’s easy to over water a venus flytrap with normal watering methods. If this happens the roots can rot and the plant can die or be very unhealthy.
Tray Method
If your plant is in the direct sunlight a lot (it’s okay if it is, they like it) or if you are away from your flytrap on vacation for a few days the tray method might be your best option. It’s also important to note that this method is best used while the flytrap is actively growing and not during a dormancy period.
Cool watering pot with a built in tray, click the photo to see it on Amazon!
Make sure your venus flytrap pot or planter has good drainage holes and set your pot in a tray with about 1 inch of water. The soil you use for your venus flytrap should be very good at absorbing water and the plant will suck the water right up from the tray through the drainage holes.
Cool watering pot with a built in tray, click the photo to see it on Amazon!
If you are able to monitor your venus flytrap and it’s not in as much direct sun, another method would be better for watering your plant.
Normal Watering
Nothing too fancy here, this is just normal watering by normal means with whatever you like to use to water. Just make sure the water is fresh rainwater or distilled. The main thing here is monitoring how wet the media is.
Like stated above, make sure it stays moist but not super wet or waterlogged. You will also want to make sure it’s never completely dried out. If your able to keep an eye on your venus flytrap this means of watering will definitely be the best!
Watering During Dormancy
The rules for watering a venus flytrap during dormancy doesn’t change much from above. What changes is the weather and temperatures and how fast the soil will dry out. With colder temperatures and shorter days you will need to water the venus flytrap less.
If you have found that you are on a consistent watering schedule during active growth you will want to make some adjustments. The schedule you are on now will likely lead to over watering during dormancy. If you give your plant too much water you can get crown rot or root rot and mold can develop.
Please adhere to the same rules to keep the soil moist and but not too wet or soggy. Make sure to never let the soil get completely dry.
Watering A Venus Fly Trap Video
Conclusion
Learning how often to water a venus fly trap is super important to the long healthy life of your plant. What types of water to give a venus fly trap as well as how often will be some of the more important factors for your venus fly trap.
I’m so glad you came here to learn more about these amazing plants. Check out some of my other guides above so you can learn all about the care for venus fly traps. If you take the time to really learn and understand them they will really pay off.
If you enjoyed this venus fly trap watering guide, please remember to share on your favorite social media platform, it helps me more than you know!