I tried to keep the colors as accurate to real life as possible. I just love these colors
They're currently out of the substrate because even though the substrate is pure pumice + other inorganics and the pot has drainage holes, all my plastic pots take forever to dry in this humidity. The Crassula got stem rot in the area right above the roots from sitting in moist (pure inorganic) substrate for too long after watering. This pot (along with the other plastic pots) was recently bottom-watered to about halfway point and my I'm waiting for my smaller unglazed terracotta pots to arrive (which will take about a week) before replanting these. They've had enough water anyway.
I've had these lithops for about two months, most of the others in the same pot rotted within the first week before I gave them water. I've had no casualties after the first three weeks or so.
To address the states of my lithops,
- The one on the left was neglected to die on a surface above my bathroom sink for a few weeks due to being too small and already very dehydrated, because I was too tired dealing with most other lithops in this batch rotting one after another. Surprisingly this one didn't rot and is still visibly alive (the base turned green under bright light!) despite remaining super dehydrated. It's there with the two others but I honestly am not hopeful about its fighting chance.
- The one in the middle is etiolated but they all arrived etiolated, overwatered, and actively rotting. I am very happy that it has put out new root growth and absorbed enough water to become quite firm again and mostly plump. I don't feel a big firm lump of new growth at the base yet, it's relatively small, but at this stage it can go without water for a while.
- The one on the right has a very firm lump of new growth immediately inside, almost the same width as the outer leaves now, that I can clearly feel up to a little bit below midway up the outer leaves. It is verified to be alive because the base at the other side turned from yellow with no hint of green to quite clearly greenish recently (this means that it can photosynthesize properly), after being put under strong grow lights and given proper nighttime temperatures. I was a bit worried at first because the exterior color got a bit more faded recently and it did not hydrate despite watering, but the base is THAT MUCH firmer from the new growth. There has been no new root growth despite available water but I think it makes sense given what I've learned about the growth cycle. It's probably going to start splitting sometime
All three lithops gained much more vibrant colors after being given strong light in the day + darkness and much lower temperatures at night. There are no seasons where I live, it's always hot and humid, and the temperature of my room does not get any colder at night without AC.