I got an impression that overprotective new lithops fans tend to panic over things they can easily figure out just watching their plants. :) Some happen to seriously freak out seeing a "dehydrated" lithops. It's important to know that in most cases wrinkles are not a bad thing! And it's surely much better than the opposite - cucumber shape, bursting open, 3 leaf changes a year. In my opinion, wrinkles also bring out colors nicely. If an adult plant is in an advanced "wrinkle" stage it will bounce back and get its normal shape within 3 or 4 days after watering. Usually you can see some progress even after a few hours!
On the picture is another helmutii I bought under description "new locality" (新産地). Don't know about that but it does have quite curious yellow-orange window edges I find very appealing. Normally I wouldn't be so radical about re-hydrating it but I needed it to be tiptop for the trip. ;) The pic shows its progress within ca. 3 days. (click to enlarge)
Hi Rika :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you.
Hello Bololoch :) thank you!
ReplyDeletehope to see an update on your lovely lithops seedlings sometime soon ;)
Hi Rika. Excellent site. Added to my feeds,
ReplyDeleteBetween april and november how often and how much (or how many drops of :) water I should give to my lithops, and titanopsis ?
Hello and nice to meet you :)
DeleteI use small pots (5x5x8,5cm) and pure pumice and grow them on the southern windowsill. With this arrangement my normal watering is maybe ca. 30 to 50 ml ...? Fairly small amount. Depending on the heat and plant's looks I might water once a week..? I don't know, it all really depends on the weather and how the plants look, there is no fixed schedule. If the summer is very hot and sunny Lithops normally rest in August. If you notice that they went to sleep (wrinkled but firm to the touch) you don't have to water them until September. I water Titanopsis solely on their appearance.
Just watch your plants closely and you'll know :)
PS: if you use bigger pots you probably should water less. With mesembs "less" is always "more"