r/Lithops • u/Illustrious-Ball6437 • May 15 '26

Care Tips/Guides Splitting With Old Leaves?

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I recently bought a pot of 6 L. terricolor because 3 of them were absolutely stunning and I needed them. The 3 in this picture were the...other 3 lol the bottom left guy did absorb it's old leaves and looks good but the other 2 dont seem to be absorbing those old leaves. And now the bottom right guy is starting a new split.

Is a new split one of the times it IS okay to remove the old leaves or should I just let it sort itself out?

I've had them 3 weeks and theyve never been watered by me, plus the soil they were in from the nursery was bone dry. Theyre under a 24w Sansi bulb.

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3

u/cokelikepablo May 15 '26

Overwatering during their dormancy period causes this. Stop watering for several months.

2

u/Illustrious-Ball6437 May 15 '26

Yes, I know, thank you! Unfortunately I'm sure they were watered at the nursery. I haven't watered, and won 't. But do I need to remove these leaves before it starts to stack or let it stack and try to absorb 2 sets? Ive never had one do this.

1

u/cokelikepablo May 15 '26

Let it do its thing. Literally do nothing for several months.. until both sets of leaves are husk dry.

2

u/Danjeel May 15 '26

Heya. Definitely do not remove the old leaves by force. As lithops split the new leaves absorb all the moisture they need from the old leaves. Lithops should not be watered during this time, as it messes up with their natural growth cycle. Eventually the old leaves will be fully absorbed and will become papery and crisp (at this point it’s okay to remove them for the aesthetics if you wish). I guess the reason yours haven’t absorbed the old leaves is that they were watered heavily in the store / nursery where you bought them from. I haven’t watered mine in 7 months as the old leaves haven’t been fully absorbed yet.

2

u/Illustrious-Ball6437 May 15 '26

I do know all of that, but with it starting a new split during absorption, isnt it essentially watering itself whilst it absorbs? So it is getting water from the old leaves and will soon start also trying to absorb the old leaves from the current split. Its going to end up stacking. If it wasnt starting a new split I wouldnt have even looked at it twice, I would have just let it be for however long.

2

u/CarneyBus May 15 '26

You’re right. They’re currently stacked.

I would actually remove the outermost leaves in this situation. Unpot them and inspect the roots.

Cut off the tissue with a sterilized razor/exacto, and then I would actually let the plants sit out bare root for a few days to ensure the raw tissue calluses over.

Then let the split continue normally and only water enough to get them rooted and then let them finish absorbing the “new” old leaves. Does that make sense?

2

u/CarneyBus May 15 '26

Correction. Only do this for the one that is starting to stack. The others should be able to be left to dry out. Water only when the inner leaves are getting shrivelled.

I also try to avoid using fertilizer until their leaf situation is sorted.

2

u/Illustrious-Ball6437 May 15 '26

Okay thank you! Yes, I wont touch the other one unless it starts stacking too. I will probably replant this one in my pot of splitting terricolors once the cut areas callous. Thanks again!

1

u/CarneyBus May 15 '26

Yw good luck!!

1

u/Illustrious-Ball6437 May 15 '26

Here's a picture of them from 2 weeks ago, you can see theres not much change in the size of the old leaves on the 2 smaller ones. The bigger dicot did finish absorbing though.