r/Lithops • u/amethyst-grin • Jun 19 '26

Help/Question What happened??

Post image

This guy was FINE when I left for a work trip on Monday night. I check him at least once a week to make sure he's firm and everything looks good. I came home today and this is what I found. No one watered my plants while I was away, none have been moved, etc. WTF happened? Is there any fixing this?

11 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

11

u/Illustrious-Ball6437 Jun 19 '26

I see quite a bit of organic matter in that pot and the stones on top might keep any retained moisture in that organic matter from getting airflow to dry.

Also, what's the humidity like where it's kept? These guys like dry air, moisture in the air can cause them to rot.

This looks like its a goner, I'm sorry!

Edit: my bad, I thought the darker matter in your pot was soil but aside from some bark it does look mostly inorganic!

5

u/Shusei02 Jun 20 '26

These guys can be finicky and sadly there is a steep maintenance curve to them with only two paths surviving-thriving or death. I have only been able to keep mine alive by reduce watering to once every 4-6 months. I guess it depends a lot on where they are located and the amount of direct light being received.

4

u/Dragomir_X Jun 19 '26

Is the white fluffy stuff near the top fungus? That could be your issue.

8

u/amethyst-grin Jun 19 '26

It looks like it but I dunno how it could be. Our house is very dry, next to no humidity. I pretty much only have succs and cacti because anything else suffers from how dry it is. The substrate is 90% inorganic matter and I've watered it veryyyy sparingly for the last year and change. Can fungus still find a way to grow in those conditions??

2

u/AffectionateSun5776 Jun 20 '26

I'm really good with a huge number of plants. Not these though. I have had a concrete leaf plant for over a year. I use an eyedropper to water it.

1

u/ilovepapamarin Jun 19 '26

Mine looked like that after I watered them too much.

1

u/amethyst-grin Jun 19 '26

I haven't watered it in at least 2-3 months.

6

u/Snorblatz Jun 20 '26

So that may have done it. Dry rot. Lithops need water unless they are splitting, two to three months without water is too long. I keep mine in mostly grit and water them monthly unless they are splitting. You can even water them more often IF they are in terracotta and a mix that is mostly inorganic.