Each Lithops head is one to two inches across, a few species slightly smaller. Seedlings may take three or four years to reach that size. Old plants will often form a clump of multiple heads, but a plant more than 6" across is very unusual. I like L. lesliei as a good starter plant. Or you might prefer the appearance of L. hookeri, L. aucampiae, or L. pseudotruncatella, all are easy species. If you want white flowers instead of yellow, L. salicola is the most robust.

I have read numerous, numerous posts of yours, Kittie, and usually the response to people trying to help you is questions of "but I can't do that..." There's certainly worth in asking for further explanations and, yes, surely we don't all understand your difficulty in obtaining the necessary soil ingredients, but your difficulties don't change what your plants need, and we could be seeing many more sincere and humble thank-yous than we are. Many of the questions you have asked are not those of someone who has grown succulents for many years and done extensive research, and some of your soil mixes show it as well...and that's all fine because we all were new once. But I'd then urge you to come here and ask questions with a humble heart. The fact that your plants aren't all growing perfectly right now makes me think to myself, golly, you have to be genuinely open to people's responses urging you to do something different. The people here are usually kind, knowledgeable souls. You've heard their answers about your needing more well-draining soil mixes many a time, or needing different light conditions or what have you, and it's almost as though you keep coming back looking for a different response that would better suit your time and means of transportation. Unfortunately, it's just not going to happen. We have to grow according to the plant's needs, not try to get them to meet ours. It's pretty cut-and-dry; there are not a lot of ways to get around what they need to thrive. Yes, it can be confusing starting out because there are some varied opinions on how to accomplish a well-draining mix, but what you can take from the different recommendations for soil ingredients is that is there there are many ingredient options for you to look into. That's a great thing; one of them is bound to be accessible somehow. But if it's not, I don't know what to say, you just can't expect to grow the plant well, I guess. We all have to buy plants that suit our weather conditions and the soil ingredients we are able to obtain, and if one of the two components isn't going to work out for you, you have to go from there and in many cases not buy the plant. That's the case with me and many others in regards to many a neat plant. This post was edited by teatree on Sun, May 18, 14 at 17:31

Sorry, that one's a goner. Without the taproot, it's just a pair of dying leaves. If you like Lithops, it's very rewarding to grow them from seed.

I'm not sure about those whitish lines running along the inside of the leaves. Have they changed at all since you got the plant, or do they feel different to the rest of the leaf? Can they be rubbed off? If the plant was stepped on flat from above and is just a little wrinkled without any stem damage then it'll probably be okay. I shouldn't think there'd be much cell damage. The pot will be big enough to hold the root system for the next couple of growing seasons, though it could use some insulation to stop it drying out so quickly. The fine roots grow quickly in response to rain and also die off quickly once the soil dries too much, so a slow-drying (but airy!) pot means more time spent in the roots' comfort zone. Insulate the pot by putting the plant pot in a larger one (say about 1cm gap all round) and filling the gap between the two with sand or something similar. Have the pot tops level, and use a bit of kitchen towel to keep the contents of the two pots separate. If you do end up overwatering, pull out the inner pot and it'll dry off faster. For the soil, there are plenty of options. Just not many that are economical for a single two-inch pot. Turface is a very good material if you can find any, and you only need a handful. It needs a bit of preparation to get the particles the right size (1-3mm). Grit is good, as long as it's the right size (1-3mm again). A tiny bit of dirt (good topsoil, good compost. Stay away from anything with peat or bark, sometimes called 'forest products') will provide enough nutrients for the plant. When I say 'tiny' I mean 'not enough to even cover the rest of the ingredients'. Lithops recycle their leaves, so their only major energy drains over the year are roots and a flower. And they'll skip the flower if they're not happy. By the way, the exact kind of plant you have is Lithops karasmontana 'lateritia'. It's a form found naturally and multiplied in cultivation because it looks nice. The karasmontana and lesliei species have a lot of variation, and most Lithops found on the shelf will be one of those two. Don't worry too much if you kill this one, so long as you were paying attention to what the plant was doing. Lithops tend to die suddenly when they go, so it's easy to narrow down what went wrong. Usually they turn to mush, although sometimes they just don't wake up after winter if they ran out of resources. Sometimes if they get fried the inner leaves just about survive and emerge from their crispy casing as normal, but not having any old leaves to consume means they'll need a little extra care until they've been through one full growinng season as normal plants. Once the plant's been through two growing seasons it can be put in a bigger pot. One, the pot will probably be rather cramped by then. Two, you'll be able to control the water supply better and will be more sensitive to the amount of water the plant needs. Lithops will drink whatever water you give them even if it makes them pop, and the more water the pot holds, the less forgiving it is of overwatering. Don't water on a schedule, it'll mess you up once the plant's repotted and the conditions around the roots change. Here is a link that might be useful: A useful Lithops blog, with troubleshooting