Matt I have an unopened packet of Living stones from Thompson & Morgan purchased in 2011. I store all my seeds in a container and put in a refrigerator in the greenhouse which is just used for seed storage (no food). Would love to trade for tall garden phlox, garlic chives and hosta seeds. Please let me know. Ellie

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

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.

Well, they look bloated and slightly etoilated. Lithops are alcoholics and dont know when to stop drinking- so they burst :/ ... Some other observations your potting soil looks way too rich and dense and pot too large for the size of the plants. I would recommend moving them into much smaller pots so they dry out faster, and minimizing the organic component by 1/2 or more, or going completely inorganic. The amount of water you give them will be based on the soil they are in, size of your pot, light/temperature/ventilation, etc. Its all a learning process by being observant, just make some adjustments you got this :)