There is a lot of division in the community as to whether you should rescue a venus flytrap from a big box store like Walmart. The one side things you should to save the plant. The other side says supporting the store in selling those plants will cause them to only order and sell more.
Although I understand the side of leaving them be, I just can’t bare to see those little venus flytraps either die of not being sold or fall into hands that don’t know how to care for them.
My hope is that you are here today because you purchased a venus flytrap from Walmart and are now doing your due diligence to see how to take care of these unique little bug eaters. If thats the case, you have found the right place!
Not only will I share care instructions with you, but I have posted numerous videos on my YouTube channel showing my plants and keeping you informed on how mine are doing. Lets start digging into my little obsession with saving these incredible little plants. You can see my YouTube channel to the right. Click subscribe so you can get updates when my new videos come out!
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Walmart Venus Flytrap Care
Okay, I’m going to give you some very basic care instructions below. Keep in mind however, I have a comprehensive venus flytrap care guide. In this guide I dive deeply into how to care for these plants. If you have a little time and a cup of coffee, I strongly suggest you visit my Ultimate Venus Flytrap care guide below. If you just want the short and skinny, check out the bullets below.
Ultimate Venus Flytrap Care Guide On CarnivorousPlansHub.com
This is the Walmart death cube the venus flytraps come in. Obviously this one is a cylinder but the death cube is what they are referred to as.
Check out the quick and easy ideas behind caring for a venus flytrap below. If you just want to see my plant updates, keep scrolling. I will have written and video updates for you!
- Distilled, rain water or reverse osmosis water only. Bottled water, tap water contain harmful minerals that will kill your plant!
- Only use a substrate that is devoid of any minerals. My favorite mix is peat moss, perlite and silica sand. NEVER use garden soil mixes. Miracle grow ill not work. Make sure the peat moss has no additives.
- Acclimate your flytraps to full sun. Eventually they will need as much sun as possible, but start with 1 week of 4 hours of sun. Then a week of 5 hours of sun. Keep going until they are getting full sun.
- Keep them in full sun. As much sun as possible. They do not need a terrarium and don’t need excess humidity. Glass terrariums can harm them if they are in the sun, the glass can magnify the sun and burn the plant.
- They will need a dormancy period. Dormancy can be a little complicated and I recommend you check out the guide I wrote on dormancy by clicking here. There is a little too much to sum up in a bullet point.
- Select a pot or planter that has holes in the bottom for good drainage. Click here for a guide to the perfect planter.
- Make sure your plant stays moist at all times. Not muddy, too much water can cause rot, but wet to the touch. You can use a tray with water underneath but only about 1/4 of an inch. Don’t refill until it’s completely dry.
- There is no need to manually feed your venus flytrap insects. You can, and it’s fun, but you don’t have to. If they are getting enough sun, extra insects won’t be necessary. They are likely catching enough in the area where they are getting sun.
- It’s much hard to grow them inside year round. You will need to keep them next to a window with a lot of sun, 12-16 hours a day. If no sunny window is available, grow lights will be necessary to keep them alive.
I think that covers most of the basics. If you do everything above, I bet you keep your Walmart venus flytrap alive! If you want more information check out my ultimate venus flytrap care guide for more info!
Get Your Own Venus Flytrap
If you are looking to get your own venus flytrap, check out the resources below.
Click Here To Buy A Venus Flytrap On Amazon
Click Here To Buy Premade Soil On Amazon
My Walmart Venus Flytrap Death Cube Rescues: Day 1
In case you were wondering, the common name for any of the small terrariums that ship venus flytraps are referred to as death traps. One of the common misconceptions about them is that since they come in one, they need to stay in there. In reality, they are just made to help the flytrap not get damaged in transit. Take your venus flytrap out of the death trap immediately!
Lets take a look at my first venus flytraps that I brought home from Walmart!
The day I bought my Walmart Venus Flytraps home!
You will want to make sure and put them in their new homes as soon as possible. I planted mine in a peat moss, perlite and silica sand mix that I made myself, check out the video below of me making the substrate!
https://youtu.be/q6WaSVn3bKg
Make sure after you plant them you give them plenty of water. Probably more now than you would on a typical day. They have been through trauma with the replanting and will need some TLC. Check out the video below of when I brought them home!
https://youtu.be/56h48DOaU6w
You can see my haul above. I ended up buying a few different carinvorous plants that day. I had planned on getting back into carnivorous plants after taking a few years off, but didn’t realize it would come in this form!
Check out the photo below of my flytraps after they were planted. You can see they really flattened out, which I wasn’t really happy about but I couldn’t really help it.
Moments after repotting my Walmart Venus Flytraps.
30 Day Update WM VFT’s
Okay, lets take a look at my 30 day update for my venus flytraps. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little worried during this update. Although there was some new growth, the plants really didn’t look great. Keep in mind though, this is a normal process. It’s really common for them to do worse before they start to do better. Check out the photo of my plants at 30 days below.
It didn’t look great. They lost most of their color and weren’t growing well.
I also shot a video at the 30 day update for my Walmart venus flytraps. Make sure and check that out below!
https://youtu.be/sbBsZogA8j0
Day 60 Update
They are definitely starting to take off now. Lots of new growth and they are growing more and more traps! I still haven’t been able to get them as much color as before, but thats mainly due to not having as much sun as I need. I’m working on getting some grow lights to make sure they get enough light! Check out the video below showing the growth after 60 days!
https://youtu.be/r7tbJCUHcqk
I’m still working on getting them back to 100% healthy but you can see from the video above that they are well on their way!
More Walmart Venus Flytraps Arrive!
Ugh, I couldn’t help it! I saw them and had to grab 4 more. I walked into Walmart and saw them in the discount plant section and knew I had to get them.
After repotting in my new planter!
These were actually in pretty good shape though! I bought a new pot to put them all in together. I want to eventually have this pot completely full of venus flytraps. I’m hoping I can get some flower stalks and start propagating.
Check out the video below showing me getting and repotting my new venus flytraps from Walmart!
https://youtu.be/b7QR2ePvTIk
Stay tuned for more updates!
Make sure to check out the International Carnivorous Plant Society for information and conservation efforts!