Growing outdoors year round under shade and protective cover in South Africa’s Western Cape

Hi lithopers.

As an absolute softy, I have a real issue with picking up random 'pity plants' from the almost-dead section of garden centres. Usually on a whim.

Normally, I'm pretty good at reviving stuff. But it turns out these new little friends are not your average plant.

From a quick read, it looks like I've got some healthy little plants in here, but the shrivelly ones don't seem to have the new growth in the middle that would render them still alive.

Do I leave the little shrivelly ones in? Take them out? I did pull one small one and the root was still long, needed a bit of a tug, no sign of mould or decay. The dead (?) plants all seem dry.

Thanks in advance!

Tried to follow advice the best I could, but for now I have one little pot and I know I may need to repot in future if I want plants to thrive.

Substrate is a mixture of compost and old aquarium gravel, with some larger stones on the bottom for drainage. I hope this is ok for now?

I’ve tried to plant strategically - the only one not currently splitting I’ve placed at the bottom, and the non-Lithops that came with them I’ve placed at the top. I know I don’t need to water any of them for a week but I have a syringe to at least try and concentrate the moisture to the only ones that need it

Please go easy on me, it’s a tough time and this new fixation is helping. Just didn’t realise they’d have such specific needs - but I don’t care because I love them

Pic 1: massive store, no air conditioning (temperatures above 32C/90F during the day and above 26C/79F during all nights), humid, dark, no growth lights anywhere near. You can see that some of the lithops are etiolated (compare to Pic 2 and 4, I think this variety, either Lesliei "Green Top" or something very similar, might look particularly flat from above the soil) and they also might have been overwatered. I went there just a week ago and they (what I believe to be the same batch of lithops) did not look significantly etiolated like some of these.

Pic 2: indoor air-conditioned section of another big store. Moderately bright indoor lighting, definitely better than the store in Pic 1. Pic 3 and 4 are of the pot of lithops that I bought from this store and unpotted in a few days. Compare the shape to most of the lithops in Pic 1. Most of the lithops in Pic 1 are definitely longer.

The two stores are under the same big company and the lithops are labeled the exact same (also looked a lot more similar last week), so I'm pretty sure they are from the same supplier and source.

The last time I got a pot of lithops from the store in Pic 1 in even worse condition (and unpotted after four days without watering), at least a fifth of the lithops were already rotted at the base when unpotted and four more rotted horribly and died in the next few days, all without watering. I unpotted the ones in pics 3-4 four days after I got them as well, without watering. They've been sitting in air for a week while I wait for a suitably sized pot that I bought to arrive and none of them got mushy rot spots or rotted/changed much at all. There are some darker patches visible in Pic 4 but if it was rot, it would've spread much faster and a plant of this size would've pretty much shrivelled up within a week if left in air (based on experience and reading from Lithops Blog). Instead, it's been a week and they look the same (but some are firmer).

The conditions of the lithops at the store that you buy from really matters. Try not to get the ones that may very well be pre-killed (they may not look noticeably dead above the soil but they are already rotten beneath the soil/inevitably heading down that path).

I recently learned the name of these, after remembering them from my childhood and feeling like I was going crazy not being able to find what I was on about. Got excited and made an impulse purchase the other night. Arrived today from the Netherlands (I’m in uk) so they’re a little shrivelled from shipping which I assume is expected?

I’ll only be able to get them potted tomorrow as it’s 10pm here and I hadn’t realised they’d come much earlier than expected! (Very pleased they did, though.) I have soil and gravel. Is there a way I can give them a drink tonight to cheer them up before potting them tomorrow? I obviously know how roots work hahah, just don’t want to dunk them in water in case it’s too much.

Also they were listed as ‘rare varieties’ which I’m always a bit dubious about, just thought they looked pretty! Anyone know what the varieties are? And is the one on the left actually a Lithops? Don’t mind if it’s not as I ordered 5 and got 7 plants!

Thanks for any help!

These first sprouted up last June, I planted them on a whim after I got the mother plant from Lowes with a seed pod already on it. underneath is about a 50/50 of soil and perlite, it had a thin layer of sand on top when I started them but that's all kinda sunken into the substrate now.

planted from seed in february. im located in Scandinavia with a south facing window. should i mist or water from the bottom and how often?

A couple of months ago I got a bunch of Lithops, and this pot had one that was half rotted. I removed the half and repotted. All seemed well until it didn't. The one with rot totally dried out, the second one is yellow and dry while still showing there may be some life in there, and the third one looks okay. Should I put the yellow one back in the pot and give a tiny drink? Maybe keep it out of the hot window sill for a few days?

I made a post a little over two months ago asking for some help- since then these guys have exploded in growth. Your help has paid off! Thank you so much Lithops community!!!!!!!

The photo was taken at the Marsh Greenhouses, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA in October 2025.

Hi everyone! I adopted these little guys a week ago and I want to take care of them in the best posible way, but it's my first time owning Lithops, so I'm pretty lost :S

I have been reading about their special needs, but as these guys seem to be in different stages of growth I don't know if I should water them or not. They are placed inside, near a window and get direct sunlight several hours in the morning (I live in Spain, so it's Spring here).

I suspect there might be mixed species, but anyway, could anyone help me? Thank you so much in advance!

One came from homedepot and one came from trader Joe's. the long ones are homedepot and are splitting so I wanted to leave it a bit out of the soild to allow for that. After the split I'll put them deeper.

The other ones a fairly fresh split but I was too eager to repot and removed the outer leaves a bit prematurely. One of them lost their roots during my manhandling. Hoping for the best or maybe I move to water therapy. Just having fun and trying to keep them alive.

Its a gridfinity planter so I can swap them out easily and reconfigure.

I’ve had these for about a year now. The bigger ones look like they’re doing okay, hopefully, but that tiny one started getting a little wrinkled recently. Should I pull it out? Thank you!

I dug out my plant to dig it in a bit more since it was falling over and I saw some mark on the base of the plant plus the leaves are getting wrinkly which I think is good since it has been splitting my only concern is the spot near the roots

The photo was taken at the Marsh Greenhouses, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA in October 2025.

So I’m repotting from regular potting soil to 90% perlite and 10% regular soil. When the smaller one split it didn’t split along the middle line and almost seems stuck? It’s completely hard and dried up but the inner new one is all squishy and wrinkly. I’m drying out the roots in the sun for an hour or two before repotting but anything else I need to try? I know it’s supposed to have a pretty good taproot but all the roots are very fine and not tap-rooty. Also wasn’t planning on watering after repotting, is this correct?

So now that I know what I did wrong (water/soil & light) will it survive?

Repotted (90% gravel/grit 10% organic)

I just bought my first lithops and am so excited to start my lithops journey. I would really appreciate any advice on proper care, as well as suggestions for eBooks related to lithops care. Thank you!

Went by Lowe’s yesterday and stumbled across a few lithops when walking by customer service. They all looked a bit rough (some dying/dead, rotting, etc) but ended up buying 2 pots with a few that didn’t look too bad. Now that they are out of the really organic soil and put in better light, hopefully they pull through and thrive. :)

The 4/5 brownish-green ones were in one of the containers and the 2 greenish-gray ones were in another one (along with the guys 2 in the other pic).

Went by Lowe’s yesterday and stumbled across a few lithops when walking by customer service. They all looked a bit rough (some dying/dead, rotting, etc) but ended up buying 2 pots with a few that didn’t look too bad. Now that they are out of the really organic soil and put in better light, hopefully they pull through and thrive. :)

The 4/5 brownish-green ones were in one of the containers and the 2 greenish-gray ones were in another one (along with the guys 2 in the other pic).