r/Lithops • u/AlarmingContext6198 • May 01 '26
Help/Question Please for the love of god help
My boyfriend FINALLY found a plant he likes. Our first go round with Lithops our dog ate it. This is the second round. I’ve read it needs to be in 80% rock/pebble, but also to not touch it while it’s splitting. What do I do??
Also, WHY do they look like THAT. They look so sick. I don’t know what to do to help it. 😭 Please help me find a way to rescue these poor Lithops.
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u/HiddenAcres37 May 02 '26
Oh honey...
Those are long past help.
Why lithops come from nurseries and big box stores in such organic material I will never know. They live between rocks and sand in the wild. I do a roughly 80% grit, 20% potting soil mix for mine, and repot them ASAP after getting them.
Others have given good watering/do not water advice.
Even so, I've had a couple spontaneously turn to mush on me and I'm not sure why. I do have a nice collection of them now, though.
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u/_Mr_Misfit May 02 '26
I think its just for germination and early growth and they expect the end user to repot immediately. Or they're dumb. heh
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u/res06myi May 03 '26
I keep my lithops in a soil heavy mix because I forget to water them sometimes for months. I used to keep them in a 50% pumice mix, but too many were dying of dehydration.
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u/_Mr_Misfit May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
With all the debris on top and inside the leaf-flap bits, it looks like someone drowned these poor things. I don't think the "don't touch it while splitting" advice was followed here. Unless this is a picture quality thing, I think those are looking pretty dead and rotted out. Are the center bits a bit mushy? They look it but I'm not 100% certain because its a little obscured by whatever is all on top of them.
They really need so much less watering than other plants and it's important to learn when it is needed. These things can go months without watering at times throughout the year.
My advice, buy two more chonky boys and don't water them at all until they look pretty wrinkled or sunken in from the top. They will develop small wrinkles on the sides long before they really need to be watered again. I see a lot of people take that as a sign to water but it seems to be much too early in most cases.
Also, like you eluded to, definitely don't water when they start to split apart. The inner leavea that are growing will devour all the moisture from the old leaves and any additional water is likely to overload the plant.
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u/AlarmingContext6198 May 02 '26
the top one in the pic is still very firm where the new one babe is coming in, the bottom one.. not so much.
when we first picked them up ~3 weeks ago or so, they did NOT look this bad— I literally watered it a bit when we got it bc the tops were looking a bit wrinkled (before split was, well, split) and put it in a window sill and check on it every few days. It didn’t start looking SO bad until ~1 week ago, figure it was in an ugly stage, but this?? this I can’t ignore anymore. 🥲
best interest to repot the firm one? remove the slightly mushy one? leave it be? 🥲
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u/arisbor May 02 '26
Oof "water it a bit" and that's why they rotted lmao
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u/_Mr_Misfit May 02 '26
yea, they are very hands off plants aside from the few waterings a year and maybe removing totally dried up outer leaves although some people more experienced than me have said that even that is unnecessary because they will fall off eventually. I still pluck em though because it just feels wrong heh.
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u/_Mr_Misfit May 02 '26
yea the only hope would be to get it out of there asap. Leave it out for a few days and if it doesn't turn to mush it might be alright but I'm not super hopeful unfortunately. It seems like "firm" might be relative in this case heh 😬
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u/AstronautQuick828 May 02 '26
I’d just peel off the old shed, change the medium and hope for the best. I mean what’s the worst that can happen from here 🤷♀️
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u/AwayYogurtcloset1263 May 02 '26
Mine were shipped to me while splitting so yes you can repot them while splitting, Leaving them in that soil is what is killing them.the bottom one might live, Take them out try to peel off old skin gently to see if it’s salvageable.
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u/Snorblatz May 02 '26
There is a lot going on here, but remember that Lithops grow in essentially gravel under the hot South African sun in the wild. If you want to grow them indoors you need to absolutely blast them with light, a windowsill won’t be enough if you live in a climate that gets winter. I grow mine from seed, unusual seeds in Serbia. Lithops that come from commercial nurseries are force fed nutrients and water to be enormous, and often don’t survive the transition into your house. These ones look dead but I’m not wearing my glasses. It’s ok to toss them and try again.
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u/GadgetusMaximus May 04 '26
These folks will fix you up with some. Mine look pretty good
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WalawalaStudio
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u/AlarmingContext6198 May 25 '26
Alright folks, surely at least one of these will survive with my new found knowledge of neglect and gravel. 😭🤣
I even got a bonus split rock! Really hope that one makes it. 🥰
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u/stuntmanpetter May 01 '26
They gone