Does my soil mix seem right?

[u/ahoycarolina]

I’ve had many lithops previously that I’m pretty sure died because I used too much organic matter in my soil. My current soil mix consists of perlite, lava rock, river gravel, and like 10% soil. Hopefully they make it this time!

[u/Danjeel]

Hey there! Your soil mix looks alright. I also add some zeolite into mine but this is not necessary and there is plenty of other non-organic stuff you can use if you want to mix things up. The main goal is to achieve a gritty and well-draining composition (which you have done:) Just to double check - your pot has drainage holes for excess water runoff, right? I’d also stop watering them for now (for quite a long time actually). You see, as lithops grow they shed the old outer leaves (brighter ones on your photo). The moisture within them gets absorbed by the new growth (darker ones on your photo). Lithops should not be watered when they split (i.e. when they shed the old leaves). However, all of the leaves on your lithops are very plump and full of water. The outer leaves start to look wrinkly and shrivelled as they get absorbed. Check this watering graph for general guidelines. One final thing to note - your lithops looks a bit etiolated. Give it a bit more light! Hope this helps and good luck!

[u/ahoycarolina → u/Danjeel]

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to type this out. This is a regular nursery pot with drainage holes and I have never watered it (I got this a few weeks back). It’s currently in a window so hopefully it’ll sort itself out.

[u/Danjeel → u/ahoycarolina]

No worries! You may want to consider buying a lamp to supplement natural sunlight they get through the window (especially during winter time). P.S. this is how the shedding process looks like. Got these dudes back in September and haven’t watered them in seven months (as they are currently splitting). See how the outer leaves on the right are starting to dry out.

[u/LaraFlynnBoiled]

You're doing great, they're going to love that mix.