You put it all nicely. I would caution anyone who lives where it can get very humid (northeastern, US like I do) who want to keep their lithops outside, not to leave them out overnight. The dew will kill them fast. Great shirt by the way. Thanks for the video.
🪨 I just took my (poor) lithops out of their pot to inspect the roots. I had put them in a pure mineral mix right after I purchased them and thought they were set up for success. 😖 Unfortunately, the original coco-peat formed a rock-hard clod around the roots. 🤞 I'm soaking the "clod" in a little bit of water now. I'm hoping to release the roots so I can start them again with a pure mineral soil. I doubt they'll survive, but their chances are better now than before. Next time I purchase lithops, I'll get ALL of the original (terrible) nursery soil off of the roots RIGHT AWAY. I appreciate your MUCH NEEDED info on the proper care of these awesome plants. Maybe someday I'll stop killing them 😅!
@AridZine Without your info, I might have thrown them away, thinking it was impossible to save them. 💚 I really love my plants, so saving each one, large or small, is important to me. 🙏 Thank you again!
excellent advice. Mine grow and flower under lights . Once I figured out how to grow lithops had a lot of fun growing them form seed. The quality of seed grown plants is much better than those I found for sale.
You're amazing!! Thank you so much for summing everything up in such a compact way! I've heard lithops are finnicky to care for so was really worried about what to do and all my research - you've covered everything I possibly needed!
Glad I could help! Good luck with them… eventually they get to a point where you can mostly just ignore them completely and they continue to exist and grow happily.
I'm so glad you're pumping out all these videos. This is just in time as my partner just bought some lithops, which I will have to care for despite my warning that I usually kill them
Im so excited to get more lithops!!! (My first ones died of root rot 😭🙏) This time, i watched 13 videos on them! (Including you lol!) I hope they survive 😆
😮 Do they have to have the cooler temps to thrive? My daughter made me buy one (I thought it was ugly, no offense). Had it for months now. I’ve been caring for it like I do for my succulents. Barky mix, water only when bone dry and high light under moderately decent grow lights set at 12 hours a day. Thing is my house is consistently 70 -ish Fahrenheit… seems happy now but Ive never seen it flower and I’m winging it. Have to admit it’s grown on me, brings me joy and I’d like to see it thrive
It’s likely to become quite confused with such consistent temperatures. It will probably be relatively happy for a while, and then one day it’ll deteriorate quite rapidly. This is because they cycle their old leaves over winter, and if doesn’t know winter is happening… they won’t produce new leaves and consume their old ones. If you can, try to give it that temperature cycle as much as you can. Even keeping it by a window might provide enough variation, if outdoor growing isn’t possible.
@@AridZine 🤔 I may be able to move it to a draft bathroom just not sure it will like the swings in humidity? Thank you for all the info. This is a very informative well made video
I refuse to kill any more Lithops! Here in the States they cost $6 for a two inch pot! My favorites are Optica rubra,Pleiospilos blousi and Fenestraria Isophylla🌵
Trying to follow your recipe. Is decomposed granite some mystical substance harvested from the base of granite cliffs, the majestic byproduct of millenias of erosion? I was just about laughed out of the store here in Vancouver asking if they had it.
It is, essentially, just very well eroded granite - yeah! Usually used in landscaping. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page for it suggests it doesn’t go by any different names depending on country - it’s just decomposed granite. A mystery why they almost laughed you away!
@@AridZine I've checked about twenty landscaping shops here in Vancouver, nobody has it and nobody has heard of it. Just a trend we never got into, I guess, despite having one of the largest granite cliff faces in the world right here people from all over the world come to climb. I see it for sale at Home Depot across the border, pity bringing soil across is not allowed. Rather than continuing the hunt I think I'll collect a bucket myself from the base of the Stawamus chief.
What time of year are you repotting this? I got one today but it’s fall in the northern hemisphere now so I’m not sure if I should wait until spring. It’s in seemingly rich soil, will be grown indoors, and so I think it should be repotted into my cactus mix.. what do you think?
If it’s in rich soil, the best time to repot is now. Get it out of that muck, then let it rest for a week or so and then begin its fall (autumn to me) watering. Great time of year to repot.
@@AridZinethanks! Now, it is already wrinkled and the soil it came out of was SUPER dry, crumbly even, should I go ahead and water? You mentioned watering when they get the wrinkles but I don’t want to induce rot since it’s freshly repotted
Give it a couple of days for the roots to heal if it’s just been repotted, then give it a real deep drink. It may or may not fatten up with that first drink, but that’ll encourage it to send out new feeder roots which will give it the capability to take up water. If it fattens up, fantastic. If not, give it a week or two and water again.
I once bought a poor overwatered Lithops at a store... It looked ready to burst! I haven't watered it for over a year to get it into its normal/appropriate shape.
I was hoping you'd do a video on Lithops and there it is! Thank you! How about seedlings though? I have sawn some in April this year and they are currently about 5-6mm in diameter. I have been bottom watering them once a week and top watering with a pipette every 2 days from above. Is that correct? They look good atm and one of them seems it might be starting to split. But I'm not sure when and how I should transition them to their regular watering cycle. Also, these poor things have the unfortune to have been sprouted in Scotland, so they are confined to the great indoors, about 7cm under an LED light that gives them about 1500 foot candles and in a quite constant environment temperature wise (17-19C). Do they stand any chance? I kind of feel sorry for these guys, I wouldn't want them to die a slow horrible death. I'd love to see info on seedlings as it is quite scarce, maybe you can help? Anyway, love your channel even though I have none of the plants you're growing (apart from the lithops).
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying what I’m making! As for your plants… their current watering sounds good, I’d ease back on the pipette after their first leaf split. After about a year they can probably go onto their regular watering cycle (maybe sooner, see how they’re going.) Even though I grow plants under lights, I’m not much good at understanding the technicalities of it, so I have no idea if your footcandles are sufficient but you’ll be able to tell if they’re growing leggy or their colour is anaemic that they need more. As for their cycle - 17-19 isn’t too bad, they don’t desperately need a summer dormancy (although it might affect flowering, not sure.) If you can find a way to keep them cold and dry over the Scottish winter, they can undergo their leaf change and then come back inside?
Thank you, that is so reassuring! It seems the light is good atm at least for this stage. They are not etiolated and are quite colourful (mostly shades of muted purple). The light is a bit more than stated in my previous comment(around 1800 foot candles), I measured again yesterday. The sun is supposed to give about 10,000 fc which is why I was wondering if they'll be happy long therm with their environment, but so far they are cute little snubs with no stretching so fingers crossed they will be ok in the long run. I think I can do cold, dry might be a challenge but I have a few months to figure out a solution. Thank you for your help and looking forward to see your next amazing plant (which I might never be able to grow 😂).
I’ve never actually grown Pleiospilos, but after some cursory reading, their care sounds very similar. The main point of difference seems to be that ideally Pleiospilos will have two leaf pairs in a healthy plant rather than one.
Pleiospilos are a lot more forgiving,bake them and treat them mean and then you can water the same as other sucs or cactus....lithops too,just coarser soil mix...
They’re slow, but not too difficult. Little seedlings shouldn’t follow the seasonal cycle, just daily misting with water to keep them going. No direct sun or intense heat or they’ll just straight up melt.
My problem is rain. I want to grow them in the sun but it rains during the summer. Do you think it is better to grow them in part sun on my porch knowing that the sun will hit them but then the plant will be in shade as the sun move across the sky or in my house with growlights? I have T5 lights on for 10 hours a day.
I suspect the grow lights wouldn’t be enough, but without knowing the set up it’s hard to say. Personally I’d put them on the porch. If they stretch a bit over the growing season, try the lights - or vice versa. The joyful thing about them is that they fix their appearance with each leaf change.
Hi i lived in Indonesia which is in tropical climate, the highest temp cud reach 38/39°c and the lowest probably at 24/25°c.. Is it true that lithops need a very cold night? Cause we dont have it here.. Or they will die in approx 2 years? Or they can adapt to my climate? Thanks for the information sir
Yes, they do need cool nights - usually anything less than 20C is ideal. With perpetual nights of 24C they can’t properly complete the process of photosynthesis and will remain in a state of summer dormancy… which will eventually kill them, unfortunately.
So I realize I always have a million questions, and it's probably a bit tiring, is there a better way for us to ask you things and pick your brain for knowledge?
@@AridZine I know it could be done through a livestream? But I have no first hand experience with livestreaming on YT. For my business (separate account) I just collect questions and then answer them all in one go. It helps when they are all similar type questions. Anything too complex and I typically dedicate its own video to it.
You put it all nicely. I would caution anyone who lives where it can get very humid (northeastern, US like I do) who want to keep their lithops outside, not to leave them out overnight. The dew will kill them fast. Great shirt by the way. Thanks for the video.
That’s a great tip. Thanks for watching
I just bought one today, but I watered it before watching this video. I’m going to move it into the substrate that you suggested later tonight.
Good luck! Once you get the hang of them, they become incredibly easy. Mostly I just forget they're there.
🪨 I just took my (poor) lithops out of their pot to inspect the roots.
I had put them in a pure mineral mix right after I purchased them and thought they were set up for success.
😖 Unfortunately, the original coco-peat formed a rock-hard clod around the roots.
🤞 I'm soaking the "clod" in a little bit of water now. I'm hoping to release the roots so I can start them again with a pure mineral soil.
I doubt they'll survive, but their chances are better now than before.
Next time I purchase lithops, I'll get ALL of the original (terrible) nursery soil off of the roots RIGHT AWAY.
I appreciate your MUCH NEEDED info on the proper care of these awesome plants.
Maybe someday I'll stop killing them 😅!
Worst case, you can just trim the roots right back. They don’t mind a decent prune, even down to a little stump. Hope they make it!
@AridZine
Without your info, I might have thrown them away, thinking it was impossible to save them.
💚 I really love my plants, so saving each one, large or small, is important to me.
🙏 Thank you again!
excellent advice. Mine grow and flower under lights . Once I figured out how to grow lithops had a lot of fun growing them form seed. The quality of seed grown plants is much better than those I found for sale.
Generally I find growing everything from seed more rewarding- although often also more frustrating. Thanks for watching!
Great detail and it’s good to get it from across the ditch close to home
Cheers! Glad it was useful 😀
You're amazing!! Thank you so much for summing everything up in such a compact way! I've heard lithops are finnicky to care for so was really worried about what to do and all my research - you've covered everything I possibly needed!
Glad I could help! Good luck with them… eventually they get to a point where you can mostly just ignore them completely and they continue to exist and grow happily.
Fingers crossed mine will survive! Thanks for the detailed information.
Good luck! They’re very easy once you get used to them… I only have a couple these days, and I mostly ignore them and they love it
Thank you! Easy to understand and thorough. Im trying one again!
Glad it was useful.. hopefully my advice works out for you!
I'm so glad you're pumping out all these videos. This is just in time as my partner just bought some lithops, which I will have to care for despite my warning that I usually kill them
Good luck! Hopefully your new plants avoid a deathly fate 😅
Grow them in pure pumice, impossible to kill that way...water once in a long while...when they start to shrivel
I keep thanking you in the comments but this is just an awesome channel! Really helps.
Glad you’re enjoying it!
Thanks to Your video i understood life cycle of Lithops 😊 thank You for very instructive video 😊😊
Glad it was helpful!
Im so excited to get more lithops!!! (My first ones died of root rot 😭🙏) This time, i watched 13 videos on them! (Including you lol!)
I hope they survive 😆
You seem well equipped to make a better go of them this time! Good luck
@@AridZine ty!
awesome video! it took me many videos about lithops before i felt comfortable getting one. your information has helped me be a better plant person
Great to hear! Thanks 🤘
Greetings from Greece,love your videos!
Appreciate it!
Best lithop video Iv seen. Great video keep up the great work.
Thank you! Appreciate it 🤘
This is top advice and should have way more likes and comments !! Thank you!!
Thanks! Appreciate it 🤙
Another great video. Thank you
Thanks for watching!
😮 Do they have to have the cooler temps to thrive? My daughter made me buy one (I thought it was ugly, no offense). Had it for months now. I’ve been caring for it like I do for my succulents. Barky mix, water only when bone dry and high light under moderately decent grow lights set at 12 hours a day. Thing is my house is consistently 70 -ish Fahrenheit… seems happy now but Ive never seen it flower and I’m winging it. Have to admit it’s grown on me, brings me joy and I’d like to see it thrive
It’s likely to become quite confused with such consistent temperatures. It will probably be relatively happy for a while, and then one day it’ll deteriorate quite rapidly. This is because they cycle their old leaves over winter, and if doesn’t know winter is happening… they won’t produce new leaves and consume their old ones. If you can, try to give it that temperature cycle as much as you can. Even keeping it by a window might provide enough variation, if outdoor growing isn’t possible.
@@AridZine 🤔 I may be able to move it to a draft bathroom just not sure it will like the swings in humidity? Thank you for all the info. This is a very informative well made video
Aw, man! I'm from Florida, and the humidity here kills them on contact. 😅 keep up the informative videos boss man
Yeah humidity and Lithops dont make for good friends!
I refuse to kill any more Lithops! Here in the States they cost $6 for a two inch pot! My favorites are Optica rubra,Pleiospilos blousi and Fenestraria Isophylla🌵
They’re such lovely plants… shame they’re so killable.
Should I even put the baby lithops (ones even smaller than what you had shown) in a coarse mix, or should those have a bit more organic matter?
Don’t add extra organics, just use a less coarse mineral mix - I’d probably aim for particles in the 2-7mm region for smaller plants
@@AridZine Thanks!
Trying to follow your recipe.
Is decomposed granite some mystical substance harvested from the base of granite cliffs, the majestic byproduct of millenias of erosion? I was just about laughed out of the store here in Vancouver asking if they had it.
It is, essentially, just very well eroded granite - yeah! Usually used in landscaping. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page for it suggests it doesn’t go by any different names depending on country - it’s just decomposed granite. A mystery why they almost laughed you away!
@@AridZine I've checked about twenty landscaping shops here in Vancouver, nobody has it and nobody has heard of it. Just a trend we never got into, I guess, despite having one of the largest granite cliff faces in the world right here people from all over the world come to climb. I see it for sale at Home Depot across the border, pity bringing soil across is not allowed. Rather than continuing the hunt I think I'll collect a bucket myself from the base of the Stawamus chief.
@@AridZineI think the name is a bit confusing as granite is rock isn't it? If it is, rock doesn't "decompose"?
What time of year are you repotting this? I got one today but it’s fall in the northern hemisphere now so I’m not sure if I should wait until spring.
It’s in seemingly rich soil, will be grown indoors, and so I think it should be repotted into my cactus mix.. what do you think?
If it’s in rich soil, the best time to repot is now. Get it out of that muck, then let it rest for a week or so and then begin its fall (autumn to me) watering. Great time of year to repot.
@@AridZinethanks! Now, it is already wrinkled and the soil it came out of was SUPER dry, crumbly even, should I go ahead and water? You mentioned watering when they get the wrinkles but I don’t want to induce rot since it’s freshly repotted
Give it a couple of days for the roots to heal if it’s just been repotted, then give it a real deep drink. It may or may not fatten up with that first drink, but that’ll encourage it to send out new feeder roots which will give it the capability to take up water. If it fattens up, fantastic. If not, give it a week or two and water again.
I once bought a poor overwatered Lithops at a store... It looked ready to burst! I haven't watered it for over a year to get it into its normal/appropriate shape.
Yeah they can really take some time to help them return to normality after they’ve been tortured in stores 😅
I was hoping you'd do a video on Lithops and there it is! Thank you! How about seedlings though? I have sawn some in April this year and they are currently about 5-6mm in diameter. I have been bottom watering them once a week and top watering with a pipette every 2 days from above. Is that correct? They look good atm and one of them seems it might be starting to split. But I'm not sure when and how I should transition them to their regular watering cycle. Also, these poor things have the unfortune to have been sprouted in Scotland, so they are confined to the great indoors, about 7cm under an LED light that gives them about 1500 foot candles and in a quite constant environment temperature wise (17-19C). Do they stand any chance? I kind of feel sorry for these guys, I wouldn't want them to die a slow horrible death. I'd love to see info on seedlings as it is quite scarce, maybe you can help? Anyway, love your channel even though I have none of the plants you're growing (apart from the lithops).
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying what I’m making! As for your plants… their current watering sounds good, I’d ease back on the pipette after their first leaf split. After about a year they can probably go onto their regular watering cycle (maybe sooner, see how they’re going.)
Even though I grow plants under lights, I’m not much good at understanding the technicalities of it, so I have no idea if your footcandles are sufficient but you’ll be able to tell if they’re growing leggy or their colour is anaemic that they need more. As for their cycle - 17-19 isn’t too bad, they don’t desperately need a summer dormancy (although it might affect flowering, not sure.) If you can find a way to keep them cold and dry over the Scottish winter, they can undergo their leaf change and then come back inside?
Thank you, that is so reassuring! It seems the light is good atm at least for this stage. They are not etiolated and are quite colourful (mostly shades of muted purple). The light is a bit more than stated in my previous comment(around 1800 foot candles), I measured again yesterday. The sun is supposed to give about 10,000 fc which is why I was wondering if they'll be happy long therm with their environment, but so far they are cute little snubs with no stretching so fingers crossed they will be ok in the long run. I think I can do cold, dry might be a challenge but I have a few months to figure out a solution. Thank you for your help and looking forward to see your next amazing plant (which I might never be able to grow 😂).
What are the dimensions of the pot you are using for potting up? I really need to find something like that.... Best regards
68mm wide, probably about 100mm deep.
Thanks for sharing. Does the same go for pleiospilos as well?
I’ve never actually grown Pleiospilos, but after some cursory reading, their care sounds very similar. The main point of difference seems to be that ideally Pleiospilos will have two leaf pairs in a healthy plant rather than one.
@@AridZine That's what I have. Will over-winter and water in spring.
Pleiospilos are a lot more forgiving,bake them and treat them mean and then you can water the same as other sucs or cactus....lithops too,just coarser soil mix...
I love lithops! Such weirdos. Rip to my old lithops though 😅
I’m sure every Lithops owner has a trail of dead Lithops in their wake 😂
Lithops are scary in the beginning but over time you'll realize they're not so difficult...
Yeah definitely - when you understand their cycle, you can almost completely ignore them and they’ll be fine!
@@AridZine if it gets too hot or too cold here in southern Portugal,I just pull them up and put them to sleep somewhere in the house...
Do you water them into the soil when you pot them? Thanks!
In this case I didn’t because the soil was already a little moist. If the soil had been bone dry, I’d have watered, yes.
How do you find them from seed? Best regards :)
They’re slow, but not too difficult. Little seedlings shouldn’t follow the seasonal cycle, just daily misting with water to keep them going. No direct sun or intense heat or they’ll just straight up melt.
My problem is rain. I want to grow them in the sun but it rains during the summer. Do you think it is better to grow them in part sun on my porch knowing that the sun will hit them but then the plant will be in shade as the sun move across the sky or in my house with growlights? I have T5 lights on for 10 hours a day.
I suspect the grow lights wouldn’t be enough, but without knowing the set up it’s hard to say. Personally I’d put them on the porch. If they stretch a bit over the growing season, try the lights - or vice versa. The joyful thing about them is that they fix their appearance with each leaf change.
Hi i lived in Indonesia which is in tropical climate, the highest temp cud reach 38/39°c and the lowest probably at 24/25°c.. Is it true that lithops need a very cold night? Cause we dont have it here.. Or they will die in approx 2 years? Or they can adapt to my climate? Thanks for the information sir
Yes, they do need cool nights - usually anything less than 20C is ideal. With perpetual nights of 24C they can’t properly complete the process of photosynthesis and will remain in a state of summer dormancy… which will eventually kill them, unfortunately.
@@AridZine ah thanks for the info, so taking them to an air conditionered room would do?
That could work, yes.
@@AridZine thanks a lot sir
Thank you. On behalf of lithops no longer loved to death.
Haha far too many!
So I realize I always have a million questions, and it's probably a bit tiring, is there a better way for us to ask you things and pick your brain for knowledge?
It’s all good! Commenting here or messaging on my Insta are probably the best ways
@@AridZine It'd be super cool if we could get a q&a maybe! I'm sure I'm not the only person bursting with questions. Thanks as always!
@@AridZine I bet your list of what videos to make is a mile long already too lol.
I’d be interested - but I’m not really sure how I’d facilitate it through YT.
@@AridZine I know it could be done through a livestream? But I have no first hand experience with livestreaming on YT. For my business (separate account) I just collect questions and then answer them all in one go. It helps when they are all similar type questions. Anything too complex and I typically dedicate its own video to it.
Gateway plants 😂
😅