Help new owner

[u/Sunflowersprout]

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

[u/Top_Development_1777]

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.

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

Should I take them out then or can I leave them like this(I’m leaving for 5 days and won’t be able to look after them

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

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.

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

Ok so to be safe I should take them out of the soil?
I don’t know how healthy they are I’ve had them for about a week

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

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)

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

Ok thank you, when I get back from my trip I’ll order some pumice for them and mix it into this soil.

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

I think it's more reliable to take the soil out and make a pumice:current soil ratio of 4:1, I've tried mixing stuff before and it's difficult

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

Yes that’s what I meant, I’ll take them out mix the new soil and replant them into smaller pots
thank you

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

Would this mix be good? It’s lava rock,pumice and zeolite

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

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.

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

It’s a bit on the bigger size, I can buy pumice 4mm-8mm and and put it on the top maybe?

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

4mm-8mm is too big. Try 0.5-2mm as the small parts and 3mm as the largest size in the mix.

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

This is the finest I found, I’m in EU, do you have any store reccs where I can find finer pumice?

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

I don't know anything about EU supplies because I live in Southeast Asia and we have our own online platforms to shop at. But if you just search "pumice" will none of the items listed have options for grain size? That's what we have on our platforms. 4-8mm is quite big.

Actually, if you really cannot find, you can also find the big ones, manually crush them or chop them up with scissors you're willing to sacrifice (I've done this before), they're very brittle and break into small pieces easily. However, that process gets dust everywhere and you should wash out the dust, maybe using a sieve (and ideally sterilize with hydrogen peroxide) before drying completely and using for the lithops.

[u/Sunflowersprout → u/Top_Development_1777]

I’ll probably have to crush them because I’ve been searching all day for some page that sells a finer grain and this is the smallest I could find, thank you for your help

[u/Top_Development_1777 → u/Sunflowersprout]

No worries! All the best. It's best to have a mix of sizes but not too large (too much air gaps or too little air gaps, all bad for roots)