Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

Answers is a repository for all kinds of weird and wonderful knowledge, and in the botanical kingdom, there’s little more weird and wonderful than the Venus Flytrap, a plant that eats meat.

Needless to say where there’s an amazing phenomenon in the natural world, there’s an expert in said species on Answers. In this case, meet Flytrapcare.com an expert in all things, erm, Venus fly trap related with an amazing 91% Best Answer ratio.

So in tribute to the oddest plants in the land, here are some facts you didn’t know about Venus Flytraps, thanks to our resident expert, Flytrapcare.com.

• What should I feed my Venus fly trap?

“There really is no need to ever feed your Venus Flytrap. In fact, you really shouldn’t feed your plant at all. You should grow it in a sunny location and let it catch its own food. If it’s winter time, then they wouldn’t be eating in their natural habitat anyway.

Venus Flytraps get all the nutrition they need from sunlight. They are green plants, which means that they can perform photosynthesis. Giving your plant at least four hours of direct sunlight a day is far more important than feeding it insects. In fact, if your plant got at least four hours of sunlight a day and never caught another insect, it would be a very healthy plant.”

• What do you need to care for a flytrap?

“There are really only four things Venus Flytraps require to stay healthy…

1) Sunlight – at least 4 hours of direct sunlight a day
2) Water – rain, distilled or reverse osmosis water only
3) Soil – Nutrient poor soil such as peat moss
4) Dormancy – Venus Fly Traps require a 3-4 month dormancy period”