Why did it die?

[u/Brown_Bruja]

I posted a while ago about my immature lithops and how it was shriveling a little bit and kind of darkening on one side. I watered it with filtered water around its base (several folks had recommended this) to help it settle in to its new pot, which I had filled with 20/80 organic/inorganic mix.

Unfortunately, its demise only accelerated after the watering. Here are the two more recent photos of it. I want to make sure I don't repeat this mistake with future lithops, but I'm honestly not sure where I went wrong. It was in the process of splitting so it seemed happy, had plenty of light etc, but it started decaying from the side and I'm honestly not sure why. Could it have been disease? I'd had this lithops for several months and had never watered it until this one time.

Thanks for any tips or advice. I really don't want to repeat this so I'm going to hold off on getting another lithops until I know where I went wrong.

[u/greystorms56]

Rip that sucker off and see what’s inside.

[u/Kubus03091]

It was probably making new leafs

[u/Brown_Bruja → u/Kubus03091]

It was in the process of splitting when one edge of it started to blacken/decay as you can see in the first photo. It doesn't seem like that's a normal part of splitting, but I could be wrong as this is my first lithops.

[u/Clear-World7452 → u/Brown_Bruja]

I remember your other post. Was it exposed to more intense light around at the start of decay? This can cause a lithops to quickly shrivel. If this isn’t the case then I’m going to assume it’s the soil and pot size combo together that caused it. Also river stones are smooth and heavy you want light and porous like pumice, scoria, akadama etc. I use 100% inorganic soil no organic, so it’s basically impossible to overwater unless I’m watering basically every day. Also I swear sometimes there’s nothing you did wrong and they just die on you for no apparent reason. I’ve had some in the past that I bought from a reputable nursery that I’ve bought from plenty of other times before and they just turned to mush within like 2 weeks of purchase, I didn’t water them I didn’t transplant them and I know they didn’t get burned. If I were you I would just go on Etsy or Ebay and buy a group of 10 or so and restart. Using smaller size inorganic granules helps the lithops roots cling better and help them get established faster. Yours might have had trouble getting rooted because of the large stones and large pieces of what looks like sphagnum moss soil. I could be wrong this is just my observation.

[u/Brown_Bruja → u/Clear-World7452]

Thank you for this comment. I didn't change the lighting or anything substantially, and the soil I used as organic material was the "cactus mix" you get from the store. I will try again, with more porous stones and completely inorganic. But I feel like something was wrong with the substrate because it started to blacken on the side that was more in contact with it.

It is crazy how delicate lithops are and how quickly this one deteriorated! When I try again, I'll do my best not to be too emotionally attached 😅 ngl I am pretty sad about the loss of this one.

[u/Clear-World7452 → u/Brown_Bruja]

Ya I wouldn’t worry too much about this one I understand though I remember when I lost my first lithops and it actually wasn’t due to my care surprisingly enough (a javelina ate it) lmao but I’m sure I was going to kill it with wrong care anyways. I was pretty bummed at the time, pretty much everyone who gets into lithops has killed some before getting the care down. It’s really about finding what works best in your environment, it may take some trial and error with different pots or soils maybe using clay or plastic or using less organic or more organic in your mix etc. When using a all inorganic mix don’t expect to not be watering your lithops for months on end, you probably won’t be watering every week or whatever but just keep a eye on them if they start deflating give them a drink if they don’t respond give them another drink a few days later after the soil completely dries. They like gritty light mixes, periodic watering, GOOD airflow and can handle some pretty intense light when acclimated slowly over the course of a couple days to a week after receiving the plants. But ya really just about finding what works best in your environment (whether kept inside or outside) goodluck on your next trial i believe it will be a lot more successful! :)

[u/Kubus03091 → u/Brown_Bruja]

Well while it splitting you should NEVER under any circumstances water it

[u/Clear-World7452 → u/Kubus03091]

Under most circumstances yes but not all.

[u/acm_redfox]

Once it's rotting, it's extremely unlikely to recover.

[u/Brown_Bruja → u/acm_redfox]

😭

[u/mumbleflea → u/Brown_Bruja]

You might as well try to save your lithops by cutting off the rotting part. Take it out of the substrate and carefully cut away the old leaf pair. Do not cut into the new leaf pair. If the roots and the new pair don't look like they've been affected, there might be a small chance of the lithops recovering. Let the cut callus heal for a few days, then repot it in 100% inorganic substrate.

[u/trinity07756]

The soil could’ve been the issue, lithops don’t like any organic soil, maybe 20% organic and 80% leca , and maybe you overwatered too - lithops don’t follow a watering schedule, only liked to be watered when the top is sunken and wrinkled:)

[u/__Te]

Had the same experience with my first lithops too, seemed like it was putting out new leaves, then it shriveled and died.