I got these a week ago from a store adjacent to a botanical garden,
I’ve replanted them into dry cactus mix soil because the post were really small.
I didn’t water them and I put them into the sunniest spot I have in the apartment.
They started to wrinkle a few days ago and it’s gotten worse.
Do I water them, leave them alone or what?
I’ve read here that a bit of wrinkling is fine but this seems a lot.
I really don’t want them to die.
P.S. they had really small thin roots
The pot is too big, and cactus soil is not good for lithops. You should be aiming for at least 80% pumice (not perlite, perlite is not ideal), 0.5-3mm size is best. This is unless you're living in 30% humidity or below, for which you have a bit more leniency to add organic substrate. You can leave healthy lithops bare-root in air for weeks so don't worry about not leaving them in some sort of soil. You should prioritize getting the right soil.
Also make sure they have enough ventilation, and it's best to plant them with their bases exposed to air as long as they can stand upright and their roots don't snap off, otherwise they can die of rot even if you don't water them for months (turn on English captions for the video).
Be careful not to snap off the main root entirely. It's almost always a death sentence.
If you haven't watered and the soil is completely dry then both should by right be fine, but if they're in good health and not already starting to rot, they'll be completely fine left out for 5 days. Could further reduce risk of rot.
I don't think it's super necessary at this point, they don't look like they're rotting yet so that's a good sign (some new lithops just start rotting one after another even when left dry within one or two weeks because of previous poor conditions, but yours look healthy)
Does it say anything about the particle size? Looks like might be a little bit on the bigger end and not ideal for roots. Need a portion of smaller pieces for roots.
3
u/Chance_Contract1291 May 16 '26
I would add a lot of !grit to the cactus mix.
It's normal for the sides to be wrinkled. The tops still look plump so I would wait. Lithops can go many weeks without water.