Plant friends, did you know your houseplants can double as pest control? Carnivorous plants don’t just survive—they hunt. Venus flytraps can snap down on unsuspecting flies, while pitcher plants lure bugs into their slippery traps. These carnivorous plants themselves are nature’s own pest management system. So I’ve brought on a guest who knows everything there is to know about them: Kenny Coogan, the head of education at the International Carnivorous Plant Society.

Kenny has been growing carnivorous plants for about 20 years, and about five years ago, he joined the ICPS as the education director. He quit his day job and turned his passion into his profession, running a carnivorous plant nursery in Florida. As he puts it, “Carnivorous plants are my life.”

 

In this episode, we learn:

• [01:47] What’s not to love about carnivorous plants?
• [03:26] Check out Verdant Lyfe!
• [04:52] Who is Kenny?
• [08:01] Some facts about Venus flytraps
• [09:57] What is a carnivorous plant?
• [12:54] Where do we find carnivorous plants outdoors?
• [15:36] Don’t let your houseplants wither this winter with Soltech Growlights!
• [16:57] Nourish your houseplants with Espoma Organic’s gentle and premium fertilizers!
• [18:57] What triggers carnivorous plants’ dormancy?
• [19:57] What carnivorous plants do to their prey
• [23:10] How to care for carnivorous plants
• [24:17] Specific care for temperate carnivorous plants
• [27:31] Specific care for tropical carnivorous plants
• [32:43] Can you feed carnivorous plants hamburger? (how to hand-feed them)
• [36:41] Trigger mechanism of Venus flytraps
• [38:48] How much light do Venus flytraps love?
• [42:58] What are the best houseplant-friendly carnivorous plants?
• [48:26] Watering and potting tips for carnivorous plants
• [50:30] Common mistakes and troubleshooting

 

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What Makes a Plant Carnivorous?

I’ve been getting so many requests for more episodes about them, and I completely understand why. They’re gorgeous, they eat fungus gnats, and they immediately make me start singing the score from Little Shop of Horrors.

It's only been 40 years since we've had a definition of what makes a plant carnivorous! Kenny explained that there are three things they need to have:

1. They need to lure and attract their prey
2. They have to be able to digest their prey (either with their own enzymes or with beneficial bacteria)
3. They have to benefit from the digestion of the prey (measured in reproduction and seed quantity)

There are about 1,000 species of plants that have carnivory as an adaptation. But they've evolved about 8 different times separately in different geologic time spans on different continents. They're not even closely related to each other!

 

The Big Secret About Venus Flytraps

Kenny shared that when you go to a big box store or grocery store, he can guarantee they haven't given those Venus flytraps rainwater or distilled water. They might have also allowed them to dry out, and they're not going to bounce back from that.

Venus flytraps also go dormant from around Halloween to Valentine's Day. They'll die back completely, and you'll just have this little rhizome in a pot. People often throw away the bulb that would come back in spring!

 

Beginner-Friendly Carnivorous Plants

While Venus flytraps are what people usually look for, they're actually not the best choice for most houseplant parents.

I know that watching them snap shut is super satisfying, but for indoor growing, you might want to consider these instead:

1. Cape Sundews (Drosera capensis): Kinda like living flypapers, but way prettier. These look like they’re covered in dew, but that sticky stuff is what traps bugs.
2. Mexican Butterworts (Pinguicula): Can live on a bookshelf or plant shelf and snack on pests.
3. Tropical Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes): These are Kenny's favorites, and I can see why! They can handle typical indoor conditions better than most carnivorous plants (aka don’t need as much light)

 

Caring for Carnivorous Plants

Note that they’re different from your typical houseplants.

Water: Only use distilled or rainwater. No tap water, no filtered water, no well water. The minerals will kill your plant.

Soil: No regular potting soil here. Use a lighter soil mix with long fiber sphagnum, perlite, and maybe some orchid bark.

Light: Most of these plants need a lot of light. If you're growing temperate species like Venus flytraps indoors, you're probably going to need grow lights.

Feeding: You don’t need to hand-feed them—they can catch bugs on their own. But if you insist, then you can feed them a bug or two every month. Please also don't try feeding them hamburger meat. If you want to supplement their diet, Kenny suggests using freeze-dried bloodworms from pet stores.

Containers: Don’t use terracotta pots. The minerals in the clay will leach into the soil and kill your plants. Use plastic or glazed ceramic pots.

 

Try Some Carnivorous Plants

If you're inspired to add some carnivorous plants to your collection, head over to carnivorousplants.org.

The International Carnivorous Plant Society has great resources, including animated videos that Kenny and his team made on YouTube. And if you want to see how I'm putting all this knowledge into practice, head over to my YouTube channel!

 

 

Mentioned in our conversation:

• International Carnivorous Plant Society
• ICPS Classroom Grants
• Verdant Lyfe
• Venus Fly Traps & More Carnivorous Plants
• Florida's Carnivorous Plants: Understanding, Identifying, and Cultivating the State's Native Species by Kenny Coogan
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986) – IMDb
• Carnivorous Plants Animated Series by ICPS
• Carnivorex 3D printer model programs | ICPS

 

Thank you to our episode sponsors:

Soltech Solutions

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Visit espoma.com to find your local Espoma dealer or check my Amazon storefront.

 

 

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