Lithops, Hawthoria, Fenestraria, and Pleiospilos
I rode over to Home Depot and bought these four plants for $3.48 each...always wanted to try them as house plants. They were growing in the typical peat moss/perlite mix that was dry as a bone. I just put them in the Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus potting soil I had on hand and will see how they grow.
Comments (109)
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoboulder
Baby toes have cute little flowers, and you get so many! Is one yellow and rest of them white?
RinaDavidL.ca
8 years agoSure hope there's more posts coming! I enjoy each of them. I too envy the number of flowers you get with your baby's toes, mine has yet to flower probably due to the lack of sun. Haven't got any blooms with my Haws either. Something to look forward too.
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8 years agoI too purchased the lithos and Pleiospilos from Home Depot, about a year ago and have kept them alive, so far. I better knock on wood when I type that tho.
dbarron
8 years agoYeah, they're easy to grow if you can duplicate native growing conditions (and watering conditions) somewhat. It's just hard for people to keep from watering when they don't want it :)
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agoGraptoveria 'Bashful" got too big for the community pot so I pulled it up and re-potted it this spring. Now it is blooming. It took a long time for the blossoms to open and I assume they are as open as they are going to get. I just noticed another bloom spike starting to form.
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoboulder
Your plants are beautiful, all of them. I forgot - what is your general location?
Are they grown outdoors or in?
Flowers of your grapto look waxy - very nice. And baby toes blooming white are gorgeous...So is the view.
Rina
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agoThe plants are outside for the summer on a small patio with south and west exposure. Since I am in Boulder, Colorado, they spend more time inside than out. An old irrigation ditch lined with willows is in the background. It is the source of the "gritty" part of my potting mix.
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoboulder
Thank you - the reason I asked is that I see your beautiful green haw - they turn darker in full sun for me (and I am in colder zone, less sun-perhaps less intense?)
Rina
bernardyjh
8 years agoBoulder, you've inspired me to pick up these guys from lowes this recent weekend.
Now I'm deciding if I should pot them up together in a community pot like yours (it's so beautiful) or just pot them separately (Fenestraria in a shallow bonsai, Lithops in a deep pot).
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agoAfter all this time my large brown lithop starting to split. I may remove it to a separate pot so it doesn't get too much water...then again, I may just see what happens.
bernardyjh
8 years agoBoulder - I'm sorry to hear that! ;(
I just hope the split isn't too devastating. Maybe I should scrape the community pot idea and pot them in their individual homes.
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoDon't be sorry. I think that is what they are supposed to do. The new "leaves" emerge from the split and the juice from the old ones is re-absorbed by the new ones. My growing instructions say not to water the new leaves until the old leaves are dry husks.
It is the first sign it has done anything since I bought it.
Outside in 97 deg heat.bernardyjh
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoOh! You meant your lithops was shredding, I thought when you said split, it was splitting from overwatering.. Good to know they are all doing well.
I've documented my repotting journey, and I'm glad my instincts were right, because all the plants were root bound, and my lithops soil were more moist than it seems. I had a hard time untangling and removing the dirt from both plants.
I decided to pot my Fenestraria in a deeper pot instead of the shallow bonsai one because of its has much longer roots than I expected it to.
The peat soil is soooooo wet that I think given a few more days, they will probably rot or spilt open because of too much water.
Too be honest, I was expecting more roots from these guys than my baby toes.
So now it begins, I need to identify what growth cycle these guiys are in now. I'm guessing they are active because of the plump appearance? I might be wrong, how do you identify your lithop when it's dormant? When it's shredding its leaves?
Is it ok to water a little right after the repotting stress that I put the roots through?
I got these from Lowe's and they were all sitting in an open air rack basking in full sun, so I'm assuming they will be ok when I put them under a south facing window? Will they get sunburnt easily?
Sorry for all these questions, it's my first time growing these, and I want to do it right.
mr. white (6a)
8 years agoThis is a great thread, I love watching the progress from the initial potting...trying to figure out lithops and split rocks myself, tricky little buggers
ewwmayo
8 years agoBernard - I can try to chip in what I've found for your questions?
I consider my Lithops dormant when they do very little/nothing. They barely shrivel at all, take longer to respond to light watering, and look essentially the same every day.
Perhaps watering just enough to sustain them in the same state is a good course of action - my mix was forgiving enough that I was able to gradually increase watering without that many worries.
As for watering after repotting, I do it to flush the dust out of my mix but immediately put the pots on a warm source with lots of airflow to start drying them out. It's probably not something I could recommend to other people but it works very well for me.
They can get sunburnt and little white or brown edged spots. You need to acclimate them to full sun (if that's your goal) because most greenhouses typically have 70% or lower light than outdoors.DavidL.ca
8 years agoPleiospilos is definitely the easiest of all mimicry plants I've encountered, it has done a full cycle of growth and still looking great. Lithops are harder to figure out especially without full sun conditions. Although I think Fenestraria is also difficult, it's almost impossible for me to keep all leaves looking great, some will split open even with the slightest monthly watering.
ewwmayo
8 years agoDavid - I have the same troubles with Fenestraria. Mine is a very small plant and a nightmare to care for. =/
DavidL.ca
8 years agoHere's how they look today... new baby leaves look quite good but you can see the cracked older leaves here.
bernardyjh
8 years agoMayo -- Always love your post, very detail and pack with loads of information. Thank you!
David -- Thanks for sharing your plants. The pictures posted are Fenestraria right?
Here's a link that you might find useful.
http://www.vivante-passerelle.net/index.php/en/notes-on-individual-genera/323-fenestraria-en-gb-2
I'm glad my Fenestraria perked up and stood firm now after I watered it the other after repotting - it was concerning because it limping really badly when I repotted it. On very warm nights, I take out my spritzer and spray the pots of my Fenestraria and Lithops to offer some moisture to combat the heat. Based on the article, that's how most of these plants extract water in nature anyway, through morning/night mist.
I'm glad I listened to my instincts to pot the Fenestraria in a deeper pot, similar to the Lithops pot. I believe now the roots are holding the soil well, that's why it's perking up. As for the Lithops, they still look the same and I'm practicing minimal care culture on them.
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoInside for the year
A low temperature of 43 deg F is predicted for Friday night so I brought all six pots of succulents inside for the year. There is no point in dragging them in and out for a few weeks. The pleiospilos is blooming even though the old two original leaves are looking soft and wrinkled. There is another bud on the fenestraria.
The hawthoria has a few brown leaves for some reason.
Pagan
8 years agoThey're just ditching the old stuff, BG. Normal for this haworthia (it looks like mutica); sometimes I yank them out when I want to bother. It's about to bloom again too. Nice growth on that fenestraria, I didn't know they grow that fast.
Pagan
cardiovascular
8 years agoThanks for sharing the update BG. I'm really impressed with the rampant growth from your fenestraria! It's going to colonize the entire pot soon enough.
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoMy last post in this thread is for the naysayers at the start of the thread.
The fenestraria is yellow and white and the pleiospilos is yellow.
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoboulder
Beautiful! You have knack for two-colors-of-blooms on same plant...just like baby toes you posted earlier (unless they change color as they get older?)
Rina
Avinash Veer
8 years agoHello everyone,
Firstly, thank you boulder for sharing the update of your beautiful lithops and other plants. It's really nice to see this thread is still active since 2014.
Waiting to see more updates from you and others soon.
And I'm really sorry if I'll be hijacking your thread.
I have totally fallen in love with living rocks and I really wish to have few growing in my house. So I've ordered some lithops and Pleiospilos seeds from eBay which I'm planning to plant soon.
I just have some questions about lithops hopefully someone will be able to answer them.
I live in Mumbai, India and we don't have plant zones here. However, I have googled and found that I stay in zone 13. I'm not really sure if I'm in zone 13 but that's what Google says; anyway, my questions are as follows:
1. Here in India it's really difficult to find cactus mix, pumice, gravel, it's even difficult to find sand here:( I mean I can ger sand but it's playing sand, and if I'm not wrong it's something that's not suggested to use for lithops and Pleiospilos. So please suggest me what can I do to make a good soil for growing lithops.
2. From what I know south facing window is best for lithops. And I don't have a south facing window. Now I don't have south or east facing window as my father is in government service and we can't make any alterations to the house without special government approval. Which can take ages in India. I got west facing window where I get uninterrupted sunlight from around 14:30 hrs to 18:30 hrs sometimes 19:00 hrs of daily sunlight. Summer temperature in Mumbai is aound 35-38°C . Even now as I'm writing the temperature is 30°C and it's 5:30 a.m. now. Winter temperature never goes below 17-18 degree. Now me being in zone 13 (as per google) will that much light and temperature be enough for living stones to grow on west facing window?
3. I'm aware of growing lithops by baggie method. However, any tips on growing lithops from seeds, i.e. what to do how to grow them, when to open the bag and who to open the bag will be appreciated.
I again apologize for invading your thread.
Thank you.Avinash
Dan Ale Zh
8 years agoHi guys,
I know you guys are very experts in succulents. Do you guys water your succulents pots until see water comes out through the drainage holes?
boulder grower if you could record a video how do you water your normal succulents and another for the lithops. it would be helpful.
If someone can post a video how to watering, it would be great.
Thanks guys.Danny
bouldergrower
Original Author8 years agoThe plant tag said to water when soil is dry and normally I water when a popsicle stick inserted to the bottom of the pot comes up completely dry. But, my potting medium is half Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm, Citrus mix with peat moss in it and if any peat moss is damp, it will show on the stick. My pots are fairly small and I just put them in a sink with water up to the rim of the pot and wait until no more air bubbles come to the surface of the pot.
But, now that the lithop and pleiopspilos old leaves are withering, I am not supposed to water, according to the plant tag, until the leaves are dry husks. So, I pour a couple of tablespoons of water directly on the hawthoria and fenestraria once a week.
So far, the plants look fine and the fenestraria is blooming again. The lithop leaves are taking a long time to wither but the pleiospilos leaves are almost dry husks.
Also, my plants are in full sun in a south window and on our bright clear days, the temperature on the plant shelf is at, or close to 90 deg F.
Dan Ale Zh
8 years agoHi @bouldergrower
Could you help me to take a look of my lithops?
I am so confused right now. Its producing new leaves inside the new leaves. Also, one of my lithops is growing in a weird shape.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3748444/advise-how-to-remove-lithops-old-leaves
bouldergrower
Original Author7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoOut for the summer.
Night time temperatures finally started staying above 50 deg F so a few days ago I put the two pots of succulents outside in full sun. The Pleiospilos popped open today and the Unknown Mimicry has a flower stalk for the first time. The Gasteria has a large bud. The Stapelia and Caralluma died. The Lithops seem to be doing fine.
I may have the Gasteria and Unknown Mimicry mixed up since they look similar...will know one from the other after they bloom.
Greenhouse
7 years agoboulder - I love this thread! It is so fun seeing updates for your succulent pots - they look great! :)
Kim
7 years agoThis is one of my favorite threads on this site, and the reason I have mesembs. Glad for the update!
LH CO/FL
7 years agoOh my goodness! Those seedlings are AMAZING!!! I never had an interest in any of these plants until this thread -- now I want to try all four!!!!
bouldergrower
Original Author7 years agoThe Unknown Mimicry bloomed. Outside in sun I lost two of the seedling Lithops after neglecting them when we had three days of 90+ deg F temperatures.
LH CO/FL
7 years agoWasn't kidding when I said I had no interest until this thread - I just got my first Pleispilos and my first fenestraria! Going to plant right now!
mesembs
7 years agoI have had a good time looking through this thread! I have always been fascinated by lithops and the pleispilos; I will have to try them some time. Keep it up!
Lal Nui
7 years agoWow...I have such a good time looking through this thread!love all the pictures and also love reading all your suggestions and tips...also very helpful too....Keep it up
bouldergrower
Original Author7 years agoThis pretty much wraps up this long thread.
After just sitting for months, the lithop is growing and its old leaves have withered after their juices, or whatever, have been absorbed.
All three seedlings are gone after being dried out apparently.
The fenestrari, pleiospilos, and hawthoria are doing fine and seem to be aging gracefully.
aakajx
7 years agoThanks for the updates
i love your baby toes.. I'm sorry to hear about your seedlings. I dried out a heap of my seedlings to. I think 1 survived out of 50 lol but that was a learning curve. Now I'm starting again and hopefully there isn't as much deaths this time around.
bouldergrower
Original Author7 years agoIn for the winter after a drastic pruning and consolidation into one pot. The Hawthoria and Finnestraria were too big and past their prime.
breton2
7 years agoNice plants! The unknown mimicry is not in fact a mimicry plant, but a Gasteria of some kind...
bouldergrower
Original Author7 years agoI am sure you are right. I just called it what the label said. I am not particular when it comes to ID.
bouldergrower
Original Author6 years ago2017 renovation
Some of the original plants didn't do well after "pruning" and repotting so it was time to refresh the whole pot. The Lithop and Hawthoria are still presentable but I added $17 worth of odds and ends from Home Depot this morning. I know some may get too big but I can handle that. It now looks the way I like it.
bouldergrower
Original Author5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoSome like it hot. The lithop and hawthoria are now over four years old. the lithop has never bloomed.
LH CO/FL