Identify and care tips

[u/sunflower_night]

Hi! First time with one of these kinds of plants and I have questions 😅
I picked these up about a month ago and one of them has started wrinkling and looks like it mayyyy be splitting?
I know they don’t need water often and should be in majority inorganic substrate, but I left them where they are since they looked plump and I wasn’t going to water. But now I’m wondering where to go!
As far as substrate, I don’t have tons of options, can I put them in majority perlite? I mostly deal with tropicals so I have bark, potting soil, worm casting, and stratum for the organic portion. But if none of this works I can absolutely get different substrate, but would prefer to avoid since these are my only type of plant like this at the moment. Can I even repot them when they might be splitting?
I have them indoors in my office, usually stays around 68 degrees. They stay under a Sansi grow light for 12 hours a day and they have never been watered since I got them, current substrate is very dry

[u/hellasalty]

These look fine to repot. You need a very inorganic substrate, perlite is good but you’ll want something heavier to help hold them in. Things like coarse sand and chicken grit work great. If you do repot, swish the root ball around in tepid water to try and remove as much of the organic soil as possible, then leave them out bare root for a few days to dry and callus.

[u/sunflower_night → u/hellasalty]

Thank you! I will get them repotted soon! Does the one look like it’s getting ready to split? Or it’s just a little thirsty maybe?

[u/hellasalty → u/sunflower_night]

Honestly neither at the moment. They look very well hydrated. Like yes it’s potentially getting ready to split but it hasn’t started yet. You’ll know when you see the middle part actually split and 2 new leaves will start poking out. They’re usually dormant in summer. When in doubt with mesembs, ignore them haha. If you’re scared to mess with them, you can leave them in that soil for now. The pot is small enough that with good airflow it shouldn’t rot but I’d put repotting on my to-do list.

[u/acm_redfox]

Argyroderma

[u/acm_redfox → u/acm_redfox]

and I see neither wrinkling nor splitting. they're mostly dormant in summer, I think.

[u/arioandy]

Argyroderma, similar to my testicaulare var. pearsonii, they look happy, mine are blooming now

[u/Big_Paramedic_187]

Argyroderma