Hello, dedicated caretaker. It is I, your Lithops, speaking to you from my pot. You observe me with concern, and I sense your desire to understand. While I cannot move or speak in your tongue, my body is a precise language. If you learn to read it, you will see exactly what I need. Let this be our visual guide.
You often panic when you see my sides becoming soft and wrinkled. Do not be so quick with the watering can! This requires interpretation. If I am slightly wrinkled but still feel firm to the touch, especially on my top surface, I am simply thirsty. A deep drink will plump me up within a day or two. However, if I am severely shriveled, feel mushy, and my wrinkles are deep and pronounced, you have likely loved me too much with water. This is overwatering, and my roots may be rotting, preventing me from absorbing moisture. At this stage, you must unpot me immediately, inspect my roots, and remove any brown, soft parts. Let me dry completely before considering a repot into dry, gritty soil.
My coloration is my camouflage and my health indicator. A gradual, even change to a yellow or reddish hue is often just my sun tan; I am enjoying the light. But if I am turning a sickly, uniform yellow or a pale, stretched green, I am telling you I need more sunlight. Please move me to a brighter spot. Now, localized discoloration is a serious cry for help. Soft, mushy brown or black spots, especially at my base, are a sign of rot from overwatering. These spots are essentially my flesh dying. A sunken, scar-like brown patch on my top, however, is likely a sunburn. I have been moved into too much direct, harsh sunlight too quickly. I need gentler, filtered light to recover.
If I am growing tall and leggy, stretching out like a beanstalk, I am not striving for greatness; I am etiolating. This means I am desperately reaching for more light. My compact, stone-like form is my pride; do not let me lose it. Provide me with several hours of direct sun daily. Conversely, if you see my outer leaves (the old pair) splitting open unnaturally or my new inner leaves bursting through the sides, this is almost always due to overwatering at the wrong time. You have given me a big drink just as I was about to split to produce new leaves, causing me to absorb too much water and rupture. During the splitting process, you must withhold water entirely.
Touch me gently. A firm, solid body is the sign of a happy Lithops. If my entire body feels soft and spongy, like an overripe piece of fruit, this is a critical sign of rot from overwatering. The situation is dire, and root surgery may be necessary. However, if only the top of my leaf pair feels a bit soft while the sides are firm, I might simply be preparing for my annual molt, where I absorb the old leaves to feed the new. Context is key. If I am not splitting and I'm mushy, it is almost certainly rot.
