Dear Community,
I do enjoy reading and and admiring all your pictures and photos <3 I hope you enjoy my learning journey as first time lithops owner as well. (TW: death and too much water)
Pic 1: cheeky survivor today
Pic 2: cheeky survivor mid March this year (starting to split)
Pic 3: how I bought them from the garden center
Pic 4: repotted after purchase in different substrates
Exactly a year ago I bought my very first pot of lithops in a garden center (Lithops terricolour), suspecting the quality to be bad (honestly, I had to save them).
I soon repotted and did a little experiment with different substrates:
1. 1/3 of succulent soil, sand and seramis
2. 30:70 succulent soil and seramis
3. Pure seramis
I had the perfect spot: a south facing windowsill on a roofed balcony. So no water unless I gave it to them and a lot of sun and ventilation. A couple months in, everyone was still alive and seemingly well. Then I realised that when it was raining, the pots would get wet because of wind and other wierd mechanics. And yes, as you would suspect, a lot of them didn't made it. The ones in the substrate with organic matter died first (I realised it too late to repot them). It was a combination of their fast and organic upbringing in the gardencenter, to much water (especially in the first two substrates) and maaaaybe a bit to much sun/too warm).
But this story is not about this failure but the one and only survivor of this torture. Of course he is the one in the pot with 100% seramis substrate. He did not only survive the hot summer with 93 days above 20°C and hotter WHILE beeing wet and rained on (yes I know they are plants of the dessert) but also withstood 3 months of temperatures between -2°C and 10°C (mostly around 0°C) with a minimum of -12°C for a few nights. He stayed on the windowsill and must have gotten some snow/ moisture in the winter. Mid March this year he looked like he wanted to die, so in an attempt to save him I took him inside and gave him some water (yes, retrospective it was maybe not the best of all ideas). Turns out, he just split and 1 1/2 months later he is nearly done and successfully survived a year in my "care" 🙂
He will spend the summer on the windowsill again (outside), since he survied it last year. I will have an eye on him to reduce his water intake (try to take him inside when it will rain).
I assume him to be around 1 1/2 to 2 years old. He seems so robust and enduring, I am curious if he would be a good one to propagate with (once he is mature and blooms).
Next step will be to figure out how to get him enough nutrients (diluted liqiud cactus fertiliser?) for him to grow a bit now that he is back to his small, age-appropriate self.
I am thinking about taking a look at his roots out of curiosity, although it would disturb him… anyone any experience?
by Lithopslover