It looks like an ordinary plant. Until it moves. One moment, it’s just another leafy addition on a windowsill. The next it snaps shut on a fly in a fraction of a second, sealing it inside like a trapdoor. It’s a quiet, efficient kill.
Across Nairobi, more plant lovers are making room for these unlikely housemates: carnivorous plants.
From the fast-acting Venus flytrap to the slow, deceptive pitcher plant and the dangling ‘monkey cups’, these species are drawing attention not just for their appearance, but for their function, which offer households a natural way to deal with pests.
At Planty Kenya, a Nairobi shop known for stocking unusual plant varieties, demand for carnivorous plants has surged.
‘People are embracing these plants, and the demand is really high. They love them because of their unique features. All three sell out, often within a week of each shipment landing,’ says Esther Gachiri, a plant seller at the shop.
The plants are imported from Europe every two months, as they are not yet available locally. Each goes for Sh4,500.
Where shipments once averaged about 60 plants, they now bring in roughly 150 – and still sell out just as quickly.
Beyond their novelty, their appeal is practical: they feed on common household pests like flies, mosquitoes and ants, drawing nutrients that ordinary soil cannot provide.
Venus flytrap
If there is one plant that truly challenges the idea that plants are passive, it is the Venus flytrap.
Compact and almost alien-looking, it is famous for its ability to move, something most people never expect from a plant. Each ‘mouth’ is made up of two hinged lobes lined with tooth-like edges.
But it doesn’t just snap at anything. A single touch won’t trigger it. The plant waits. Only when its fine internal hairs are disturbed twice within about 20 seconds does it respond, closing instantly. ‘If an insect gets in there, the plant just closes and traps it,’ Esther says.
Once shut, the trap seals and begins digestion. Over several days, the plant breaks down the insect and absorbs nutrients like nitrogen, something it cannot get from its natural, nutrient-poor habitat.
After feeding a few times, the trap eventually dies off and is replaced by a new one.
Venus flytraps thrive in bright light and humid conditions. Indoors, they do well near sunny windows or in terrariums. Despite their dramatic feeding style, they are non-toxic to pets.
Pitcher plant
While the Venus flytrap relies on speed, the pitcher plant works quietly and without any mechanical action. It simply builds a structure that is so precisely designed that anything small enough to enter cannot escape, and then it waits.
The trap is a modified leaf that has been curled and fused into a long, upright tube. This tube rises as the plant climbs and vines. A hinged lid sits at the top, angled just enough above the opening to prevent flooding rain from diluting the fluid inside while keeping the entrance permanently accessible.
The rim of the tube is waxy and often brightly coloured, and is lined with nectar-producing glands that draw insects in with their scent and sweetness.
However, the moment a fly or mosquito steps onto the rim, the surface offers no grip. It slips and falls into a pool of digestive fluid at the base of the tube.
“It has, like, a necktie kind of thing,” Esther explains, describing the entrance structure. “Once it’s in there, it just gets stuck and can’t come out because it’s sticky.”
As the plant matures, it continuously produces new pitchers from side shoots, growing progressively taller over time. Each new pitcher is fully functional from the moment it opens.
Pitcher plants can thrive both indoors and outdoors. Indoors, they thrive in bright, indirect sunlight or in terrariums with high humidity.
Outdoors, they flourish in tropical and subtropical climates, provided they receive filtered sunlight and consistently moist, acidic soil.
While generally hardy, it is advisable for parents to watch out for aphids or fungal infections if the humidity is too high or ventilation is poor.
Monkey cups
They look exactly like something a monkey might drink from: plump and pendant, with a broad, smooth body hanging freely from a tendril extending from the leaf.
“That’s why it’s called a monkey cup, because of its shape. It looks like a jar,” says Esther.
It originates in the same humid tropical forests as the pitcher plant, and its hunting logic is similar. While the pitcher plant grows upright on a climbing vine, the monkey cup sways gently in the breeze, its open mouth always facing upwards.
The cup contains nectar that lures insects in. An insect drawn to the scent descends toward the rim, steps onto its smooth inner surface and immediately realises that there is nowhere to stand.
The interior is coated with wax that is so perfectly smooth that insect legs cannot grip it. The lower half contains a pool of digestive fluid into which the insect falls and dissolves. Above the opening, a hinged lid prevents downpours from flooding the pool while keeping the entrance permanently open.
The trap never closes, snaps or moves. As the plant matures, it produces new pitchers from its sides, each of which grows into another hanging jar. Eventually, it forms a cluster of swaying cups that, from a slight distance, resemble a bunch of ornamental gourds.
Despite their exotic origins, all three species adapt well to Nairobi’s climate. They thrive indoors near a window that receives bright but indirect light, or on a sheltered balcony where air moves freely.
Can they be propagated?
For buyers wondering whether they can grow their own from cuttings, the answer is yes, though it requires patience. For the Venus flytrap, the easiest method is division: when the plant produces offshoots from its central rhizome, these can be carefully separated in early spring or early summer and repotted individually.
Each offshoot must already have its own root system before it is cut away from the mother plant.
A second method involves gently pulling a healthy outer leaf downward so that it detaches with a small section of the white rhizome tissue still attached.
That leaf is then pressed into carnivorous plant soil (carnivorous plant soil is a mix of peat moss or sphagnum and perlite, and is available locally), kept moist, and given plenty of light. New growth can appear within a few months, though it can take one to two years for a division-grown plant to reach maturity, and three to five years when grown from seed.
The pitcher plant propagates readily through stem cuttings. A healthy section of stem is cut and placed in moist carnivorous plant soil or shallow rainwater, kept in a warm spot with indirect light and covered loosely to hold in humidity.
Rhizome division is another option: mature pitcher plants develop side shoots along their underground stems that can be cut into sections and replanted separately.
Monkey cups, being a species of Nepenthes, can also be propagated from stem cuttings in a similar way to the pitcher plant. A node on a healthy stem is cut, placed in sphagnum moss, and kept humid until new roots establish.
Across all three, one rule is non-negotiable: watering must always use distilled water, rainwater, or reverse osmosis water. Tap water carries minerals that these plants, evolved in nutrient-stripped bogs, cannot tolerate.
Not immune to pests
Despite their reputation as insect killers, carnivorous plants are not immune to pests. The irony is that the very creatures they feed on can, in high numbers, turn against them.
The most common offenders are aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and spider mites. Aphids tend to cluster on new growth in early spring, distorting emerging leaves and traps before they fully open.
Mealybugs appear as small white cottony masses at leaf joints. Thrips are tiny and hard to spot, but leave behind dry, crisp foliage and small sticky black specks. Spider mites thrive in hot, dry conditions and can spread quickly if the air around the plants is too stagnant.
The first line of defence is always manual removal-wiping pests off with a damp cloth or cotton swab, or dislodging them with a gentle spray of water. For mealybugs, a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol applied directly to the colony works well before any spray treatment.
When an infestation is more advanced, Esther recommends going the organic route. Neem oil, pressed from the seeds of the neem tree, is the most widely trusted organic option for these plants.
Diluted in water with a small amount of liquid soap to help it emulsify, it is sprayed across the plant’s leaves, stems, and the soil surface. It works by disrupting insect feeding and development rather than acting as an instant kill, so repeat applications every seven to fourteen days are needed until the pest population clears.
‘When treating carnivorous plants, keep sprays away from the trap interiors. The digestive surfaces inside pitchers and the trigger hairs inside Venus flytrap lobes are highly sensitive and absorptive, and direct application of any spray, even organic ones, can cause burning or damage,’ she cautions.
One important care requirement for first-time owners is that these plants cannot be watered from above. Each plant sits on a shallow tray filled with water, drawing moisture upwards through its roots. The tray should be refilled every four days.
“If you water from above, like we do many plants, it will die,” Esther cautions.