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Lithop Help!

Hi there! I am new to the world of terraforum, stumbled upon it while researching lithops!
I'm a high school student, doing an independent study on botany and am building two separate terrariums: one dry, and one wet. Currently I am working on the dry one, I have only planted the lithops so far... andddddd they aren't looking so hot.

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https://mail-attachment.googleuserc...328712112292&sads=eCiZx7SjZDBkjbxrVk2kTSEcQe8

Hopefully the links to those pictures worked.. but if not, here's what started happening:

I bought them from a local nursery looking bright and beautiful, planted them a few days later in the terrarium (haven't watered them because it's winter). They started shriveling up, and I started to get worried about them, so I did some research and ended up here! I read about how winter is the growth period ya da ya da ya... so i continued to not water them and watch them look like they were dying. Finally, the leaves started to dry up and shrivel to the ground then I saw a little bud in the middle of it! that looked like this:

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I saw that last Friday... showed up to school yesterday (Monday), and my little bud looked shriveled up and not good):

Is this normal...? If not is there something I can do to try and save it?!

Thanks!

---------- Post added at 08:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------

Oh, and here is the one that was really bad.. (If you can even see it in the picture)
https://mail-attachment.googleuserc...328712112292&sads=eCiZx7SjZDBkjbxrVk2kTSEcQe8
 
pictures!

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newgrowth.jpg


First two are the pathetic looking ones... third one is of the new growth before it shriveled up...
 
Hi grnbygrl,

Could you give us an idea of your husbandry?
- how is light provided and how much?
- are you watering right now and how much?
- what is the soil mix like?

The pictures are a bit small, so I can't tell if you have new growth, flowers, or both coming up. That being said, I want to make sure you understand how Lithops and their allies grow:

Most species make a couple new leaves a season, often just a pair. In order to make them though, they have to use up water that they've stored up all year in the older leaves. This means that, whenever you get new growth, the older leaves or pair of leaves should shrivel until they are nothing but a little papery husk. In fact, the leaves NOT shriveling is an indication of over-watering for some species.
 
Light is provided through a basking light... i think 120 watt? can't remember off the top of my head but I will be sure to check tomorrow. I am not watering at all right now, because it is supposedly the "growth" period, with it being winter. The soil mix is much like a cactus mix, perlite, soil and gravel/sand so it is able to drain well.

I understand how they grow, with the new growth using the nutrients, I just wasn't sure if this was what it was suppose to look like.. haha, nervous mother i suppose.

Thanks!
 
When you say basking lamp, do you mean an incandescent bulb? Lithops naturally grow in full, unfiltered sun. You would need strong flourescents or MH/SV lights to maintain them indoors for any appreciable amount of time.
 
i'm pretty sure it is a fluorescent.. i have yet to get a thermometer in the tank, but it is whatever lithops.info recommended.
 
Due keep in mind that "winter time" for them might not be winter time for you. If they start to look wrinkled from the top down they are probably getting ready to split and grow their new leaves. BUT if they are wrinkle from the bottom and the top still looks full they might be dryed out. In which case water them just a little or mist on them.
Litops from a store are almost always over watered and not given enough light so when I get them home I wait till the start to wrinkle before I offer them any water at all. Good Luck
 
Great to hear, thank you so much for the help/advice!
 
  • #10
They look normal to me. I have a few and right now they are in a resting phase. Flowers are wilted down. Soon the old leaves will start dying back and the new ones will start pushing up. NO WATER until the new leaves are seen.
 
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