They'll do best if you at least separate each different kind into its own pot. You'll probably want to repot anyway, because chances are very good that the soil they're in is completely unsuitable and will kill them very quickly.

Only water when the old leaves dry up and the skin turns tan, new leaves will start to come up out of the center, then water, after just barly mist them once a month, pertend that you are the fog, that is all, they like to be crowded into a pot, they live inbetween the rocks, hiding, only showing their windows to the sun.
They grow in pure quartzite rocky sand, and full sun in Africa. Norma

SO they are fine in a cramped pot.... thats good to know.... now for soil.. what is the best stuff to use i feel most mixes hold too much water... i bought a catus mix for some other plants... and really it didn't seem gritty at all... seemed like more of a forest floor type material even found what looked to be broken down mulch.. should i be using some sort of sand or grit?? if so... are there any brands to look for?

as for separating them by VAR. i think i like the look of them together.... adds alot of interrest to the pot... that and i don't really have alot of window space for several small pots (i am only in a one bedroom condo with only one window and a set of french doors leading to the patio) next summer we are moving to a much larger house... where i can have space for more projects :)

The thing about keeping the varieties separate is that even though they're all lithops, you may need to treat some of them differently at different times. For instance, I have a pseudotruncatella that is blooming right now. When it gets done it will start making its new leaves, so I'll have to withhold water. There are other species which might not bloom until well into the fall, and will need to be watered between now and then. It can be hard to spot water certain ones if they're touching some other kind. And watering just once at the wrong time can spell disaster.

A good soil mix is anything that doesn't hold much water, and dries out very quickly. I use equal parts turface, pumice, and crushed granite, with just enough loam to sort of hold it all together. What you end up with isn't even really "soil" in the strictest sense, but more like very fine gravel. But it dries out within hours and allows plenty of air to get to the roots. Avoid peat at all costs, and also avoid fine sand, because it compacts into stone around your plants' roots. You've heard of sandstone, of course. If you let fine sand sit in one spot for a long time, and add a cementing agent (In this case usually decomposed peat) that's literally what you get after a while. I don't think anything enjoys those conditions.

Wally:

I agree with everything you just stated - with a bit of an exception, in my experience.

Most mesembs, Lithops included, have very fine root systems that seem to prefer a dense soil mix. However with that comes the necessity of more careful watering.

Why don't you try growing some Lithops with the same mix you already use but with the addition of about 1/3 dense garden soil from your yard (assuming of course you can get some). Water with less frequency and less quantity, except during the period of active growth right before flowering when you can water more often.

You won't notice a difference right away, but in time the plants become more compact and the colors more intense - in my experience.

x

Another regret - I could never, ever grow Lithops worth a darn.

If you ever see pics of them in habitat, you'll notice that many of them take on the color of the rock around them, the better to avoid being eaten by a critter (tortoise or grasshopper a lot of the time).

Thanks, xerophyte. I did pot a couple up with more garden loam than I normally use, but it hasn't been long enough to see what difference it will make yet.

I always wondered about their camouflage. Whether they actually have some kind of adaptive mechanism which lets them change their appearance somewhat to match the area they happen to be growing in, or whether it's all just natural selection, and the ones that don't match don't last long.

It must be selection. Proteins are not that smart. I suppose it could be conceivable that something like a high iron content in the soil could upregulate reddish pigments, or limestone to upregulate white and opaque coloration. But my soil is neither and the coloration looks fantastic, so who knows?

It does seem uncanny though.

X