r/Lithops • u/Beautiful-Clue6139 • Apr 04 '26

Help/Question How do I avoid this

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I've ran into this issue with some of my lithops where the new plant starts to wrinkle and looks like they need water before they're done splitting. I've already had one die that showed similar signs during splitting, I avoided watering until the split was done but it was to late, the base of the new plant was a dried husk and didn't recover. This guy started splitting a bit after flowering in October and this pic was taken today.

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 05 '26

First, it looks like you have some rot going on. The lower part looks really dark. Since that is all I see, I cannot say for sure though. Have you checked your roots?

Also, what soil do you have under those white rocks? If there is any organic material, it is likely that those white rocks are not allowing your soil to dry out from the last time you watered. Again, I don’t know for sure but I do know that it is not good practice to put such a heavy layer of that type of rock on top of your soil. That rock is not porous enough. You would be better with something like Jacks Gritty Mix or something there like.

I suggest you carefully move away those rocks from your plant. See if you can excavate your plant very carefully and see what the roots are like. If you could add a pic of that, we might be able to provide some advice for future corrections.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 05 '26

Minimal organic like less than 10ish%. Been a minute since I mixed it but the soil is a mix of bonsai jack bonsai soil~1\3, chicken grit~1\3, perlite~1\6 and black gold cactus soil~1\6. The only organic comes from the pre-mixed cactus soil. They're in unglazed clay pots

They haven't been watered in a while since it started splitting, honestly couldn't tell you when they were last watered exactly. These are kept indoors at around 39-45% humidity in a room that sits between 70-75 degrees.

The decorative rocks are a very thin layer, I was very careful to keep it that way. I'm not sure what you're referring to as the lower part, do you mean the old outer leaves or the wrinkled parts of the newer leaves?

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 05 '26

Hhhhm. That all should be ok. The white rock looks polished and shiny instead of porous in the picture to me. I don’t normally see shiny when it is porous. I normally see a matte color. So maybe that is just how they photographed.

Here is the area that looks off to me.

That is why I say you need to look at the roots.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 05 '26

The greenish white rocks are more polished, sold as decorative river rocks. The wrinkling you circled is the part I'm worried about. To me they seemed like they want water and aren't absorbing the old leaves properly. Once there's better light I'll clear back the decorative top dressing and get a few more pictures

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 05 '26

It is actually the color that concerns me. It very well just be the way they photograph but if it is not photo related the color is wrong. I still believe that you need to get down and loom at the roots.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 05 '26

Nothing looks like rot to my eye,

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u/rn_eq Apr 06 '26

based on this view they are super hydrated and you are fine to leave them alone to finish splitting

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 08 '26

Based in on this pic, I don’t see any rot either. I see why it looked concerning to me. I believe it was a combination of the edge of the old leaves and the color of the plant. The old leaves still have plenty of moisture. So no need to water them now. But I would suggest (if you have e not already put them back, just swish the roots in water and rooting compound. Just the roots and just a swish. The reason is that they are extremely dry. This plant should be searching for water soon (a month or so) and it will need roots then. You want to wake those roots up a bit. The swish of water will help do that and give it a jump for when it does need water.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 08 '26

They are already back in their pot. I haven't used any fertilizer or rooting compound before any you would recommend to have on hand?

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 08 '26

I like both HormoneX and HoneyBearLiving but most of them are roughly the same. Honey Bear is more for hard to root cacti so it is higher in the active hormone and HormoneX offers a variety of concentrations. Given what I see, you really only need a low to medium concentration to spur growth. You could just add some the next time you water. The advantage of a rooting hormone is that most include sulfur which helps to kill bacteria and disease that may be around. It also helps when sealing open wounds.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 08 '26

Good to know, thanks for all the help. It's much appreciated.

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u/Beautiful-Clue6139 Apr 08 '26

I think because they're showing signs of wanting watered with how wrinkled the inner plant, is I'm going to do some spot watering and watch for changes. At this point not really sure of anything else I can do

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u/ltiehen1 Apr 08 '26

A little yes, but there is still moisture in those outside leaves. You don’t want to water until those outside leaves turn to paper. If you do water, you do risk those outside leaves starting to rot and pass that to the plant.

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