You've probably already read all the various blogs (some of which contradict others), but here's a short piece from Lithops.net. It's a Lithops nursery. They raise and sell them, so I would think they'd know how to care for them. http://www.lithops.net/lithop7.htm LITHOPS should be allowed to go drier in the winter when the new growth is drawing moisture from the old leaves. At this time, water very lightly, just enough to keep the root hairs alive. Some people say it is easiest to judge if you water as though you are trying to get the dust off the leaves. As the old leaves dry up in the spring, give them more water until the long, hot summer days bring the growing period to a standstill. At this time water lightly as stated above, act like you are getting the dust off the leaves. REMEMBER, you never want the soil to become bone dry. ( The root hairs will all die back and when you resume watering there will be no root hairs to begin using the moisture. ) As flower buds appear in late summer and fall, another watering period begins. Tapering off during winter after flowering has ended. Those growing plants under lights will probably need to water a bit more during the winter when the plants show signs of shriveling. No one can tell you exactly how much water your plants need, you must watch them and learn their growing cycle.

Thanks for all the comments! It's really helped! So right now I'm going to give the wrinkly ones a good soak and leave the other ones until Spring. It's getting close to Winter and we just had our first frost last night... meaning it's about time to stop watering them. They didn't cracked or flower but who knows? Maybe next year! So I bought some more because I'm addicted to these little buggers. Thing is when I separated the bunch of three I noticed two of them looking way gnarly. Half of one looks like it got a bite taken out of it and the other one looks... well it looks like it has a flesh eating fungi but I'm not sure so I don't know what to say. I sprayed it with some hydrogen peroxide, but no fizzing seen or heard so I don't think it's bacteria... help? Lol

Thanks for your replies! Mesembs, you're always so helpful. Yes I am asking about the callused areas. Almost all of my lithops have them. I'm so confused what I'm doing wrong that is causing the skin to callus. I am not trying to show them but I'd like to have them a little prettier and healthy. (I pulled the rocks back to show the extent) These little things are tricky. I joined a lithop forum hoping to find more detailed information on lithops. Unfortunately the moderators have settings that all posts even replies must be approved before they go up. I'm not sure how often it's checked because I've been waiting days for my posts to appear. I even see other members saying no one posts but the process makes it somewhat difficult. There aren't many recent posts. Anyone know of a good lithop blog/forum group that's active?

Need a picture of the whole plant including the pot. If the leaf fell off in your hand, that means plant central recognized the leaf was not pulling its weight or needed to go for other reasons. The first in a series of 3 events that occurs during leaf abscission (shedding) is resorption, the recovery of nutrients from leaves before they are shed. It's a key strategy which allows plants to avoid losing nutrients they already paid for. The central element of the green pigment, chlorophyll, is magnesium. The light green mottling is indicative of the fact that magnesium is being reclaimed from chlorophyll molecules for use elsewhere in the plant, so the mottling would be a normal occurrence in leaves in the process of being shed. That leads to the question - why is it being shed? There's not enough info to do anything but guess, so I'll give you a list and you can check off what isn't the cause. The odds are, it's A) under-watering. If your habit is to water when you can still detect SOME moisture in the soil, it can't be over-watering. B) over-watering, a strong contender for the prize. If you ARE watering when you can still detect moisture in the soil, odds strongly favor over-watering as the cause. C) A major reduction in light between the nursery and the point of sale will cause leaf shedding in ficus. D) It could be a deficiency of one or more nutrients considered mobile in the plant. If any are deficient, the plant will steal nutrients from old foliage to fuel new extension of branches and new leaves, then shed leaves which were robbed. I'd tell you to fertilize, but first you need to tell me if you see any prills (round balls smaller than BBs) of controlled release fertilizer (like Osmocote) on top of or mixed into the soil. Al