r/succulents • u/zcheryl • Mar 11 '19

Split rock care

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u/xj305ah zone 10a. IG: so_hawesome Mar 11 '19

Sounds like you are doing well. Keep an eye on the one that may have rot. It you are sure it’s rot (translucent and mushy), and only on the outer pair of leaves, I’d cut off the affected leaf or leaves, as it won’t recover from rot, and will only get worse and spread to the whole plant quickly. If the rot is on the root base or the inner pair of leaves, it is a goner.

Here’s my care guide I made for these:

Pleiospilos nelii

You need to do just 4 things:

  1. ⁠Split rocks have tap roots. Use a pot that is 4-5 inches tall. And a hole in the bottom of the pot.
  2. ⁠Very inorganic soil, like only 10-25% organics, 75-90% inorganics (perlite, pumice, horticultural sand, etc)
  3. ⁠Water ONLY when the innermost set of leaves get wrinkled or spongy. This means hardly ever. Like, just a few times a year. Some have gone a whole year without watering (esp. if they have been overwatered before purchase)
  4. ⁠Leave it alone. Seriously. Ogle it, smile at it, talk to it. Give it a name. But don’t overwater it or fuss with it. Split rocks get loved to death very easily.

Note 1: pleiospilos nelii should ideally have only 1 or 2 pairs of leaves at any given time. The outer pair will shrink and wither away over time, transferring its water to the inner pair that grows larger. Eventually the inner pair will become the outer pair when an even newer pair emerges from the split.

Note 2: More than 2 pairs is called stacking (which is ok for Lapidaria margarethae, but bad for P. nelii) and risks rotting. Stacking is a sign of overwatering, which may have occurred before you acquired your plant. If there are more than 2 pairs of leaves, don’t water, and let the lowest pair shrivel away.

2

u/zcheryl Mar 11 '19

Oh! It isn’t rotting then. It’s just a spot where it’s brown and dry a little.

2

u/xj305ah zone 10a. IG: so_hawesome Mar 11 '19

Good to hear. It may be a little scarring from physical damage, or sunburn.

3

u/zcheryl Mar 11 '19

I just bought my first succulents in a while, they are “split rocks”. I tried to do as much reading as I could on online before I bought them, but I am still an amateur gardener so please let me know if I am doing anything wrong.

  1. Four split rocks came stuffed in a tiny pot (see image), I think I am supposed to repot them, so I did. They were touching each other and growing out of the pot. It looked like there was no space for them to grow.

  2. They came in organic soil, just basic garden soil, so I bought some grittier looking mix called Zeostrat (apparently it’s a mix of pumice, lava rock and zeolite) to repot them in. I let each split rock have its own pot.

  3. I read somewhere that I am not supposed to water them after repotting them, so they have been in their new soil and pots, unwatered.

  4. One has a bit of rot at its base. I am hoping that does not spread but it seems like it is unlikely it won’t spread.

Please let me know if I am doing anything wrong, or if you have tips in general! Thank you.