I tried growing lithops once, and it was the last time. In my experience, I found just overwatering once to be fatal, turning the living rock to dead mush within hours. If a cactus starts to rot from overwatering, often part of the plant can be saved before the rot spreads, but not so with lithops. They are fascinating plants, good for a specialist, but for anyone with a propensity toward heavy handed watering, there are many other more forgiving succulents to choose from. Christopher

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

If it's only been a few days its possible the damage was done (and it's already too late...) before you brought it home, sadly. Have you watered it since acquiring? My home depot lithops experience is that I watered mine once, and that was enough to do it in. Timing is everything with lithops... not sure if mine had been already been abused, or one poorly timed watering is enough to do them in. About the actual damage, it -could- be oedema, I don't recall seeing anything like that on mine, but maybe I didn't notice it. Daniel

I haven't read the entire thread but I'll tell you how I grow mine. I grow them in a mix of pumice and horticulture charcoal (no organic material) and I mist them about every two weeks. They are several years old. I did leave one of my lithops out in a zone 9b winter last season it was in a catch tray that collected water all season we had an unusually wet winter too. Sometimes it sat in water for several days and the temps often dipped into the mid 30s at night. It didn't crack or rot! I was super impressed! I just completely neglected it that way it it did fine! So it depends on the variety/ spieces of lithop I suppose. It was in the pumice/charcoal mix though which in sure helped. My others have been on a bakers rack on a controlled patio environment and are doing fine. I just bought another over the weekend. I know they go dormant in the summer. Not sure exactly when though. So I've slowed down on the water again.