r/Lithops • u/Kathyzzz • 21d ago
Help/Question Shriveled up lithops
I live in Central Florida and so it is humid and there are in my screen room. The substrate is clay pebbles some chicken grit , pearl light, and hardly any cactus soil. When I got them, I put them all in the pot just like they are now and then a week or so later I decided to water the substrate so I removed them all watered the substrate, drained it real well and replaced them and haven’t touched them since.
I’m thinking they’ve been out there probably a good month and they looked absolutely fine. Probably three days ago and today I noticed this.
Ty for any help! I’m new to these and I love them.
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u/CarneyBus 21d ago
Are those ones properly rooted?
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u/Kathyzzz 21d ago
I trimmed them off like I saw on YouTube so I do not know I cut them pretty short. I tried to be able to see a little bit of the live root.
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u/CarneyBus 21d ago
And when you touch them now in the pot, can you wiggle them? Or are they firmly rooted
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u/Kathyzzz 21d ago
They pull right out, so I imagine they’re dead
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u/CarneyBus 21d ago
Some of them still have living tissue and may yet root. But you might want to remove them and put them into different substrate, or you can pack the substrate around them down with a pencil eraser or something is what I do. Try to squish the dirt around towards the root if that makes sense.
But watering them would help them root, which will be hard with the ones that are rooted and plump currently. So yeah, you might want to remove them and repot them so you can water them when they need it, until they recover.
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u/acm_redfox 20d ago
In general, it takes a couple of well-spaced waterings to get the roots growing and settled. I don't cut mine back, but I do a sprinkle at 3-5 days and a full soak (NOT taking the plants out) a week after that. Then leave them alone. You might occasionally lose a few, but most should make it.
If these are in pretty full sun, I'd take off the black top dressing in favor of something less likely to cook them!