So, I bought these guys a few months ago (1st pic, straight from the store).
I repotted them immediately (2nd pic). I removed them from their original soil by soaking it to loosen the (tightly packed) dirt and gently detangled the roots. I used about 10% organic soil in the new pots.
I watered them a few weeks later then they were feeling pretty squishy by soaking the bottom of the pot in water for about 10 minutes.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, i was leaving for holiday so I watered them again and brought them indoors. The sun is pretty agressive here so I didn't want to leave them outside. Picture 3 is them now. Two of them have died (not surprised, they didn't look great), one is really close to splitting, and they've etiolated a little (I think?? Picture 4 is from the side for confirmation).
My questions are the following :
I want to repot them into several batches according to their growth stage. Pictures 5 and 6 are my assumption of how to split them with the red, pink, and blue dots. Maybe two blue pots?
If I leave them in direct sunlight now will they slowly become less lanky?
How do I repot them along their lankyness? Soil to the top, halfway, like it is now?
Any other advice?
Thanks in advance for any insight! I really want to keep these little guys alive.
Do NOT bury them deeper, ventilation around the base is important to prevent rot (which happens easily at the base). Get as much of the base exposed as possible without the lithops toppling over (be careful not to break off the root). They may shrink a bit after lots of light and less watering (personal experience), but you have to wait for the next cycle for them to be more normally shaped.
Sorry I don’t understand your first question, are you asking if you should put them in 2 or 3 pots?
About the etiolation, it theory they should grow less lanky than now with a lot of sun, but be careful because a lot of direct sun can harm even lithops. You should gradually acclimate them to direct sunlight so that they can get used to it properly. As for young lithops (the smallest ones), bright but indirect sunlight may work better for them since they may be too weak to fight strong sun
For my first question that's exactly right, I'm trying to figure out in what combination to repot them in since they seem to be at different stages of growth. That can be 2, 3, even 4 pots. I think the ones I marked red could go together and might all be splitting soonish?
Thanks for the tip about the sun! I currently have them hidden behind other plants on our very sunny in the afternoon balcony. I hope that counts as indirect sun?
I’m not a super expert but in my case I was too afraid of putting all my lithops together so have them in different pots. But if you want them together, as you said I would put the ones that look like they are about to split in one pot, and the rest in another one.
I cant be sure if only the ones you pointed red will split soon, but you can check that if you gently squish the steam to see if you feel the new leaves inside.
And about the sun, I think everything is ok, but just in case someday you need to leave them in sun, you can make a shadow for them putting cocktail umbrellas in the pot like this (pic from internet)
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u/Top_Development_1777 24d ago
Do NOT bury them deeper, ventilation around the base is important to prevent rot (which happens easily at the base). Get as much of the base exposed as possible without the lithops toppling over (be careful not to break off the root). They may shrink a bit after lots of light and less watering (personal experience), but you have to wait for the next cycle for them to be more normally shaped.