Most carnivorous plants catch enough food on their own, and feeding the wrong thing does more harm than not feeding at all. Pick your plant, where it grows, its size and how it is doing. The guide tells you what to feed, how to feed it, how often, whether soil fertilizer is safe, and what never to give, based on the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), Barry Rice’s Carnivorous Plant FAQ and the nursery Sarracenia Northwest.
Three Rules Every Source Agrees On
- Healthy plants first. Barry Rice calls feeding the last thing to worry about. A plant that is short of light or water cannot digest its food, and the leaves die or go mouldy.
- Insects, not meat. Rice says hamburger and other meat will probably kill the plant, and that insects killed with pesticide should never be used.
- Less is safer. Rice’s general guideline is no more than about one bug per week, and the ICPS warns that plants such as Cephalotus have been killed by feeding too much or too soon.
Dried Blood Worms
Dried blood worms are a fish food the ICPS uses for flytraps, sundews, butterworts, Cephalotus, Nepenthes and Heliamphora. For small leaves and pitchers, the ICPS grinds two or three blood worms to a powder, wets a toothpick and carries tiny pieces of the dust to the plant. For sundews and flytraps the worms are soaked in water first, because the ICPS feeds only live or wet food to those plants. Check the label: the ICPS says the worms should have no added ingredients.
Where the Sources Differ
Fertilizer in the pitcher. The ICPS uses small slow-release fertilizer pellets in Nepenthes, Cephalotus and Heliamphora pitchers, one at a time and only in pitchers that hold water. It warns that the same approach can backfire in long-tube Sarracenia pitchers, because the plant pumps the liquid into the soil.
Fertilizer in the soil. The ICPS says you are living dangerously if you fertilize the soil of flytraps or sundews, but calls it a good idea for juvenile Sarracenia and possible, in light doses, for Mexican butterworts in a mineral mix. For Heliamphora it calls too much soil fertilizer one of the easiest ways to kill the plant. Sarracenia Northwest warns that fertilizer can severely damage or kill flytraps.
Do outdoor plants need feeding? Sarracenia Northwest says flytraps grown outdoors do not need hand feeding. Rice says unfed plants survive and simply grow more slowly, and that most homes have enough gnats and flies for indoor plants to catch some prey.
Related Guides
- How to feed a Venus flytrap
- How to feed a Nepenthes
- Plant symptom checker
- Pot size and repotting advisor
Sources
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Feeding plants [carnivorousplants.org/grow/feed]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Feeding dried blood worms step-by-step [carnivorousplants.org/grow/feed/bloodworms]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Sarracenia soil fertilization [carnivorousplants.org/grow/feed/sarraceniasoil]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Dionaea [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Dionaea]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Sarracenia [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Sarracenia]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Cephalotus follicularis [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Cephalotus]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Mexican Pinguicula [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/MexicanPinguicula]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Nepenthes from seed [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Nepenthes]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Heliamphora [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Heliamphora]
- International Carnivorous Plant Society, Growing Darlingtonia [carnivorousplants.org/grow/guides/Darlingtonia]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, What should I feed my Venus flytrap? Hamburger meat? [sarracenia.com/faq/faq2440.html]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, Exactly how do I feed my Venus flytrap? [sarracenia.com/faq/faq2460.html]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, How often should I feed my Venus flytrap? [sarracenia.com/faq/faq2520.html]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, It is possible to overfeed a Venus flytrap? [sarracenia.com/faq/faq2540.html]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, How often should I feed my plant? [sarracenia.com/faq/faq3075.html]
- Barry Rice, The Carnivorous Plant FAQ, About fertilizer and hamburger meat [sarracenia.com/faq/faq3560.html]
- Sarracenia Northwest, Venus flytrap care [growcarnivorousplants.com/venus-flytrap-care]
- Sarracenia Northwest, Nepenthes care [growcarnivorousplants.com/nepenthes-care]
This tool is editorially reviewed and its advice is checked against the cited sources. Last reviewed: October 2026.