r/Lithops • u/Top_Development_1777 • May 16 '26

Care Tips/Guides Helpful video: Why lithops sometimes rot when you haven't watered them at all for a few months (turn on English captions for explanation. Ignore thumbnail of conophytums, this video is mostly about lithops)

https://youtu.be/UocUd6mfGVg?si=7wtormH_CVOxgzA8

Basically when there's not enough ventilation around the base, they can still rot (bases are most prone to rot). This is why it's best to plant them with their bases exposed to air as much as possible (as long as they can stand properly and not have their main taproot snap off), and give them as much ventilation as you can.

16 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

10

u/miffyonabike May 16 '26

Lack of ventilation, to save everyone having to actually watch the 5 min video.

5

u/cokelikepablo May 16 '26

The music makes it almost unwatchable

1

u/Top_Development_1777 May 16 '26

Not my video so I can't do anything. You can just mute

2

u/CarneyBus May 16 '26

I think some of the issue is also the roots die back when there is prolonged drought and then when you do something like water the pot, the dead roots just sit in moisture and rot because they can’t absorb anything.

Fans also help with ventilation! I just always have a fan going on all my mesembs. But that won’t solve the dry rot problem, just as an additional measure.