Hello there, new caretaker. We are Lithops, often called "living stones." We appreciate your interest, but to help us thrive and not just survive, you must understand our world from our perspective. We are not like other houseplants, and the most common mistakes stem from treating us as if we are.
Your most frequent, and fatal, error is giving us too much water. In our native, arid habitats, rain is a rare and celebrated event. Our entire bodies are designed to store enough water to last months. When you water us on a weekly schedule like a common fern, our roots and body rot. We literally drown from the inside out. You must learn our seasonal cycle: water us when we are actively growing (usually autumn) and absolutely withhold water when we are dormant (typically summer) and especially when we are splitting to make new leaves (winter/spring).
You often pot us in deep, organic-rich, moisture-retentive soil. This is a death sentence. We need a home that mimics our natural gritty, rocky ground. Our pot must have excellent drainage holes, and our soil must be over 80% inorganic material like perlite, pumice, or coarse sand. Furthermore, you plant us too deep! Our long taproot needs depth, but our leaf body must sit high and dry above the soil line. If soil and moisture collect in the cleft between our leaves, it invites rot that quickly consumes us.
We are sun-worshippers. We crave hours of direct, bright light daily to maintain our compact shape and proper coloring. Without it, we become etiolated: we stretch out, becoming tall, pale, and weak. This is a desperate attempt to reach a light source. A stretched Lithops is a sickly Lithops, with a compromised structure that may never recover. Place us in your sunniest window, preferably a south-facing one. Without adequate light, we cannot perform the photosynthesis needed to sustain ourselves, making us vulnerable to other ailments.
Your concern is appreciated, but often misplaced. The most common panic occurs when you see our outer leaves begin to wither and a new pair emerges from the center. This is not us dying! This is how we grow. We absorb the moisture and nutrients from the old leaves to fuel the new ones. During this splitting process, watering is catastrophic. Watering the old, outer leaves while the new ones are developing can cause them to rot or become stuck, often killing both sets. Trust our ancient process.
