2017 renovation Some of the original plants didn't do well after "pruning" and repotting so it was time to refresh the whole pot. The Lithop and Hawthoria are still presentable but I added $17 worth of odds and ends from Home Depot this morning. I know some may get too big but I can handle that. It now looks the way I like it.

Ryan it will depend then they flower for you and when that flower dries up, I watered after the flower dried up, I also waited until the leaves where completly dry on the outside, and I saw a new leaf coming up from the inside of the center. They were in clay pots that were very small and kept in them until they filled the pot, then taken out and replanted in fresh quartzite gravel and put back in. When in Africa I saw them in white quartz between the rocks, hunkered down, with only windows showing they were protected from the sun and grazing animals. I have Ed Storms books, but there are two pages of watering instuctions, I can't possibly type out here. Ed Stom didn't water his from March to November and they all lived even though it was one of the hottest summers that they experienced, this was an experiment. This is not recommened for your collection but it gives you a clue how little water they need. At the Huntington we gave them an occasional splash of water, a quick once over, if the tops are turgid and firm with no wrinkling and the surface is smooth they don't need water Ed Strom says in his book. This is the best I can do here. Others with more experience will expalin this more simply. Norma

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

Danny, in the gardens I am not raising, I'm digging holes (dynamite would be the correct tool if I had it), filling 3 gallon containers with the bad dirt and discarding it on a dirt pad in the front of the house; then filling the holes with lasagna ingredients. The ones I did in May shrunk about 75% and so they got more ingredients. The most recent ones have been piled into mounds about 8 inches above the original soil. They will work their way in. I'd love to take a year just to correct the soil and not grow in it, but that ain't happenin'. I know I have increased my earthworm population by putting so much food in the area. They seem to really go for coffee filter and kitchen waste. So I save about half of that stuff for them and the rest for the compost pile. When I have an amount equal to about a third of a three gallon hole, I dig, add it, add horse manure and cardboard and or newspaper in nearly equal amounts, not quite layered but you get the idea. I water it in, stomp it down lightly, add some more and top it with my ample supply of sand (to discourage flies and such). Two years ago I didn't think I had earthworms here, but a heavy rain revealed a few in the lawn, not in the hardpan I've converted to gardens. Now a good population is thriving. This is a very recent development and people think I'm weird because it made me so happy. I got worms! It takes time. Also, spend some time reading in the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum. Plenty of information there. Here is a link that might be useful: Here