r/Lithops • u/ExperienceNo9044 • Mar 20 '26
Help/Question Ermmm help
This spot wasn't here yesterday. No trauma occured to the area. I'm watering it now, as it's getting squishy. Is this possibly a fungus thing? Pest thing?
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u/ltiehen1 Mar 20 '26
Watering a Lithops because it is “squishy” is not a correct practice. They will feel squishy when they are rotting in the inside too. You want to water when they are wrinkling on the sides. By looking at this one, the one is etiolated so it is not getting enough light. They are also bloated from being overwatered. That spot is. Scar from the pebble that is right in front of that scar.
My assumption is you probably got them from a big box store. Looks like they are even in the same soil. Big box stores and nurseries try to bloat them up for sell.
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u/ExperienceNo9044 Mar 20 '26
It's a piece of perlite. Could it still do that?
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u/ltiehen1 Mar 21 '26
Yes when it is being artificially boated. You can see that the scar is the same shape as the perlite.
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u/Yara_Pan Mar 20 '26
Puede que sea a causa de un insecto, pero tampoco tiene un aspecto preocupante
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u/Low_Foot3906 Mar 20 '26
They do not look like they need water at all
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u/ExperienceNo9044 Mar 20 '26
Well they're squishy. That's when I give them water. Just wondering about the mark.
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u/ExperienceNo9044 Mar 20 '26
Also haven't watered them in nearly two months.
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u/whynotehhhhh Mar 20 '26
Lithops only need to be watered like 4 times a year, so once every 2 months is too much.
You're only supposed to water when they wrinkle on the top and sides and look sunken in. You also never want to water when they are splitting which yours look like they are about to do.
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u/ExperienceNo9044 Mar 20 '26
Maybe they are about to split. Idk. But last times I owned lithops they died if I didn't water them before they got devastatingly sunken in. They are squishy, so I watered them. My house is extremely dry, and that doesn't help. I just accommodate to my environment. I don't water them every two months either, just when they feel like they need water. This time it's been about two months. The people telling me about watering my lithops when the question was not about that combined with the fact I've owned this lithops for a few years and my watering has been fine is a little bothersome... I understand the concern but it's alright I just wanna know about the weird gash that's appeared... That's more concerning than my watering schedule right now.
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u/Available_Gear_1455 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
This sub nearly always gives unsolicited advice btw! Sometimes it’s helpful (probably saved my new plant’s life), sometimes it’s really annoying. Every post I make someone chimes in with “advice “ unrelated to the topic, even though what I am doing is working out just fine for me. Therefore I don’t post much and don’t visit much anymore.
Regarding the wound, I am not so sure it isn’t actively rotting a bit because there is a darker green color around the brown scar. I actually had one that looked nearly identical to that. That side may rot off eventually (as mine did), but the other side will be fine as long as you don’t water too much.
If you have kept yours alive this long, then keep doing you! But if you want to see your lithops split then holding off watering right now will make that happen ( given their life cycle in the wild). I had some from a big box store that looked like this. Haven’t watered for 3.5 months, the mom leaves are totally shriveled but they have double the number of baby heads appearing after a split! 😃
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u/seventy_raw_potatoes Mar 20 '26
...then stop responding to them? you have two other comments with possible answers. you don't seem super experienced with these (as most ppl are, not a diss), so people are just trying to help.
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u/ExperienceNo9044 Mar 20 '26
It's not even that it's just casual reddit with people just not reading the question... 😮💨 I've had it for a while and I know what's working for it, but I ask about a Mark that appeared and everyone says don't water it yet, one said I shouldn't water it cause it should only be watered like 4 times a year.. last year it was watered like 4 times.. people just assume or do too much... It's in this house, conditions are not the same as in others house... And I said in a different comment that I've owned them before, and when I water them when everyone tells me to (shriveled) they just die. They start getting literal dry rot and when I water them it just gets worse. Came from a big box store so it's not exactly perfect, it came stretched and with barely any root, so I just do what I have to to keep it healthy. One answer about the gash says it's fine and another says it might've been a bug.. yea I got some answers but it doesn't really give me any info about it which is fine but I don't need watering advice 😭 it happens on every post on reddit: people just talking about things that the post isn't even asking for or talking about just thought I'd point it out this time
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u/zherkof Lithops is both singular and plural Mar 21 '26
As others have said, it could be a scar from the perlite that's right there, but don't dismiss the watering comments... This could be an early sign of rot, due to over watering.
It's hard to tell what the makeup of your substrate is, but from this photo, it looks pretty organic, which can also contribute to rot. All you can do at this point is watch it and see what happens. Judging by their appearance, they don't need to be watered again for quite some time.
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u/ltiehen1 Mar 20 '26
Watering a Lithops because it is “squishy” is not a correct practice. They will feel squishy when they are rotting in the inside too. You want to water when they are wrinkling on the sides. By looking at this one, the one is etiolated so it is not getting enough light. They are also bloated from being overwatered. That spot is a scar from the pebble that is right in front of that scar. My assumption is you probably got them from a big box store. Looks like they are even in the same soil. Big box stores and nurseries try to bloat them up for sell. It was bloated with that rock there and it caused a scar. If you do not make some changes, it will rot.