Lithops plant size: Part 3 (18 pics)

This is Part 3 of the Lithops size analysis. Please also see Part 1 and Part 2 for a review of bigger plants.

I have realized a long time ago that white-flowering lithops are difficult on the windowsill. They just need more light than I can provide. Such species as L. julii, L. hallii, L. karasmontana or L. salicola seem to stretch no matter how little water they get or they have troubles regenerating or both. Because of that I completely gave up on L. salicola. Just can't keep them from stretching. I still have some L. hallii but I'm slowly giving up. No, they do not stretch. But they just can't get out of old leaves. In the case of L. julii and L. karasmontana, I think, it is still possible to figure them out. And the key is plant size.

The below L. julii sp. has survived 5 years under my care and came down to this shape. It's round and short and, being an older plant, it even reaches 1.7 cm per head.

This L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea (C179) has been in my care for 9 years now and is also 1.7 cm. It looks normal and healthy but unfortunately it has not regenerated this year at all. Sometimes lithops skip a year but it worries me nonetheless. Maybe it did skip a year. Or maybe it's dead inside. I believe smaller size should be better.

These are L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea (C179) as well. I got them 2 years ago from my favorite grower and they measure only 1 cm, despite being adult plants.

Even a little bit of untimely watering can mess them up. If you have a plant that looks like the below that's already stage one of stretching. Strict diet right away should still be able to correct it but no guarantees. I've seen this often enough to not get my hopes up. 

You might think "But this plant is kinda small if you consider head size from the top. You just said small is fine." Well, that's the thing. L. julii just don't get big without stretching. You water them more and they stretch into a cucumber right away. To keep them short and flat to the ground you're sort of forced to keep the head size small. It's a balance and that's what makes it so difficult for me. How those two plants further above got to 1.7 cm without stretching and dying is truly a mystery.

L. karasmontana are the same. If I buy a bigger plant from a greenhouse nursery (full day of sunlight), then under my conditions (half day of sunlight) they will stretch after the first time I give water to them and so I end up not watering at all until the plant either dies or reduces its size. The below L. karasmontana ssp. karasmontana v. aiaisensis (C224) is such a case and I still have troubles keeping it short (the bigger head is 1.5 cm). I had two of them initially and one didn't make it. These days, if there is a possibility to see the plant before ordering it, I never go for anything large.

Here's a good size. L. karasmontana v. lericheana (C330), 1.2 cm.

This beautiful orange one with no name is 1.3 cm. It still had big chunks of old leaves attached a couple of weeks ago when I took this photo but worked its way through them by now. That's very late.

I understand L. hookeri can get rather large under greenhouse conditions. I have a bunch of them and I can keep them flat and well-textured only at a size of 1.3 cm. The goal is to have them look like brains :D

Now we come to the smallest plants on my windowsill, L. localis (former L. terricolor) and L. dinteri. L. dinteri are indeed considered the smallest among lithops in general so there's nothing much to tell. Mine are 1.1 cm.

L. localis however I have killed in bunches over the years. Now I grow several and they all uniformly measure 1.1 cm per head. This is the only size that keeps them from stretching. And even at such a tiny size they are having a really hard time regenerating! I'm still not giving water to the late ones.

To all you windowsill growers, keep your plants small and short. That's your main goal. It will not guarantee flowering, probably the opposite, but you will have good-looking and healthy plants for many years. Luckily, with lithops, leaves can be much more interesting than flowers.

New year, new life for lithops - part 3 (10 pics)

Continuing with the regeneration pictures here is the next bunch.

L. gesinae v. annae C078

One has less regenerating to do than the other. The left plants is one of my very first plants, bought as adult in 2008, making it at least 10 years old. Age doesn't show on lithops. It looks just as young as back then :)

This one is two-headed, bought last year, and the left head grew just slightly long. After ripping it open the new leaves are as short and flat as they should be. Just a small corrective surgery.

L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea C179

This one I also have since 2008 and for the last several years it has settled down to this perfect round and short shape. I'm not good with L. julii but this one is being very patient with me. The new leaves have just started showing. Its neighbor will have to be transplanted as it's almost finished and will need water soon.

L. bromfieldii var.glaudinae 'Rubroroseus' C393A 
These are 2012 seedlings and almost done changing leaves. I itch to water them. They'll double in size then.

L. gracilidelineata
This is one of my 2009 seedlings. A very beautiful plant and already all new, same as its siblings.

L. hookeri v. lutea
It doesn't look like a lutea but okay. It's pretty and healthy and that's the main thing.

L. hookeri 
All growing nicely flat, making me proud.

The next guys are new since last summer and will hopefully adapt their life cycle to the new windowsill conditions (they are initially greenhouse grown). So far so good. I always have difficulties with white flowering lithops.

L. hallii (Kalk Kraal)

L. hallii v. ochracea (Ghams)

Thirsty lithops (6 pics)

I'm posting some pictures of thirsty lithops on demand :)

I have just taken them so these are examples of thirsty lithops that do NOT need to be watered. It's November and this is how they should look like this time of the year. No need to feel sorry for them.

However, if you see them like this in the time period from April to September (October, if still sunny), and the surface is soft to the touch, it's a clear sign that the plant needs and should get some water. There is an exception when it's very very hot in Summer and the plants get wrinkly but the surface stays hard as stone - this means they went into a heat induced sleep and should not be bothered. They can be watered when in doubt but they most likely will not react until the heatwave is over so they better be left alone.

Here are the typical signs of a thirsty plant:

1. The sides get wrinkly. Easy to see on those that grow in a longer shape naturally (olivacea or dorotheae or julii)

2. The plant tries to bury itself. This you can see on short-bodies plants (lesliei or bromfieldii). They look like pies with a crust from above. You'll see the wrinkles on the sides if you dig them up a bit.

Of course in Summer you don't need to wait for this level of dehydration and can water much sooner if it's sunny. However, a grown up plant can take it and you can go on a 3 week vacation no problem. Once watered they will return to their normal shape in a day or two.

Newcomers - Lithops (13 pics)

Firstly, I'd like to introduce the new lithops I got from Klaus Ingenwepelt. I bought a couple of plants of each kind so there are actually more plants than the photos below and they are still in their original pots and substrates. Normally, lithops have it more cozier at my place, growing in groups of at least two in one container. But I'm generous with room these days and it can wait.

I was not very successful buying adult white-flowering lithops before but I think I have more experience now so I decided to get mostly hallii, karasmontana and julii this time, knowing that they were grown perfectly shaped which will give them a good start on my windowsill. They all have nice and sharp patterns and the best size. Even the aucampiae, that tend to grow huge in commercial nurseries, are so wonderfully small and round. This is definitely the goal for us hobby growers :)

Among the yellow-flowering lithops I really liked L. hookeri v. lutea and would have bought several but there was only one plant left. It has a nice dark color, in contrast with the usual light-green or orange.

And this strange guy is a Conophytum verrucosum, the only cono I can show you as all the others I bought look like the C. ectypum ssp sulcatum below. Photos will follow in the fall.

I'll post the pictures of other mesembs soon, too.

Small plants (5 pics)

I'm fond of small plants. I guess that's why I'm growing lithops. But also among lithops I like the smaller, more compact plants and, in truth, the smaller the plant the easier it is to care for it under windowsill conditions. I'm often using the word "downsizing" with the meaning of letting or making the plant reduce its size to the manageable minimum. And I don't have in mind an unhealthy shrinking and slowly withering. A small plant can be fit and healthy and strong. It can be grown to be small from seed or, with a little bit of luck and patience, made small by strict watering and poor substrate. Not all plants can go from fat to slim (fat plants tend to die during regeneration before they get a chance to downsize) but those that can will thank you with more intense color and sharper pattern.

I've had success with these L. lesliei and L. hookeri in this regard. Over the course of about 2 years they went from bloated to flat and tiny and now don't have any troubles regenerating like it was the case at the beginning. With the Albinicas below I had serious doubts they will make it at all. The plant heads on the pictures go from 7mm to 15mm in size.

I'm not a friend of L. julii or karasmontana but I found out that I can only grow them if they are kept small.