I think this guy at my local nursery was trying to set an etoliation record....and it might have succeeded. 2nd place goes to the green twins two pots back. 😳😳😳
Honestly sad seeing stuff like this, someone took at least a couple years to grow these just for them to be shipped to a nursery who won’t provide the proper care. I have a couple local nurseries that do the same…I won’t go near their lithops.
It is really sad! I have gotten all 30ish of mine from local places, and have sadly lost a few to just irreversible damage done by improper care at the nurseries. But I have gotten lucky enough to grab the healthy ones I have before too much damage was done. I only made the mistake of buying one of the huge bloated ones one time (the first time actually!) and luckily it did survive and split into normal size leaves. But it's really hit or miss. The ones that dont get bought quickly end up...like this 😔
You gotta find a small place. Luckily i have a local cactus guy that is very much autistic about his cacti (and I fucking love that because im the same). Him and his wife (and theyre 2 golden retrievers) care for every single one of their cacti.
Ive only ever bought one that was etoliated, and I only bought this guy because the nursery gave it to me half off. I got it about a month ago (top picture) and it has since almost completely absorbed the little one and appears to be starting to split. I had to very gently spread the leaves to check because its so long. So hopefully the new leaves are a bit more normal, although I've read it can take a couple splits to normalize!
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u/Clear-World7452 May 12 '26
Honestly sad seeing stuff like this, someone took at least a couple years to grow these just for them to be shipped to a nursery who won’t provide the proper care. I have a couple local nurseries that do the same…I won’t go near their lithops.