What's a good pot size for Lithops?
jojosplants
14 years ago
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norma_2006
14 years agoRelated Discussions
I ordered too much! What sizes pots to re-pot in?
Comments (18)70 miles away is far. If it must be pots, your plants can be OK in pots. Most gardeners have a more or less permanent pot ghetto in any case! I would keep the pots in part shade whenever that is possible. If they have to be in full sun for awhile, do check them every morning - as you head off for work, for example, or when you get home, if you usually get home before dark. Plant in a mix of potting soil and bagged topsoil. This would be my personal preference for water conservation, even though potted plants generally don't want heavy topsoil. I think any pots that give your plants some room to grow without being the size of Kansas should be fine. Trays or water-catcher things under the pots may help save you some watering work. In zone 5, if you can't get everything into a permanent planting spot by October, use the holding bed idea but just drop the plants (in their pots), into the soil. Plants in pots are vulnerable to freezing. Some people are able to overwinter stuff in pots in an unheated garage but from back when I lived in z5 I know for a fact that, when it was -12 outside, it was -12 in my garage. That's too cold for most potted plants, even if they're hardy in the ground....See Morenew pot of living stones (Lithops)
Comments (8)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....See MoreLithops - Planting multiples in same pot?
Comments (2)Lithops will have a tough time dealing with the extended summer's high humidity and warm nights in Orlando. It is not to their liking, they will be dormant for a long time and you must be very cautious with watering because of that. It's quite tricky: you have to be able to balance the tendency to being dormant on hot nights with enough water to keep the roots from drying out while at the same time the high humidity calls for reduced watering. Use a soil mix that has a very high % of a non-water retaining substrate like perlite. I suggest you try growing a few for several growing seasons so you can learn how to grow them properly before you start doing more "advanced" things like growing different species together. It probably can be done successfully in the humid southeast. Any growers out there with experience growing Lithops in predominantly hot/ humid climates? x...See MoreTransplanting a good sized aloe from potting soil to cactus soil
Comments (3)Hello! I'm relatively new on here (so everyone feel free to correct me) but I repotted my aloes recently and they're doing well! Usually shop bought cactus soil won't be free draining enough. So buy a bag of perlite and use 50% of each and that will stop the soil being too soggy. You could also add some aquarium grit (I used this) or horticultural sand for extra drainage. Don't use normal sand as it will clog up the drainage holes and cause problems :)...See Morejojosplants
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