Here's the photo of the poor dying plant.

Lee

Dying plant photo

Mine did the exact same thing! I hope someone helps answer this question! I too was very disappointed!

Well, I added a little bit of water, because I figured, at this point, try the opposite.

But I fear the jig is up, teisa!

Lee

Pot the next ones up in an unglazed terra cotta pot.
Pot in a very gritty mix....like 80% grit, 10% perlite and 10% bark/cactus soil.
Do not water for the first week.
Acclimate to the sunniest window you have; outside is better.
Do not water them with a few drops of water, water till it runs out the bottom of the pot. This should be done when the weather is hot where you live.

I learned after killing something like 10 plants to just leave them alone. They sit in my front foyer which has an almost floor to ceiling window with southern exposure. I water them twice in summer, when the temps are in the 90's...once near the beginning and once near the end. Then, they get nothing until the next year unless they start to look a little shriveled.
My mix is mostly chicken grit, something you can get at a farming supply store, with some perlite and cactus soil thrown in.
I can only say that after killing so many, I decided that I wasn't going to water them until they looked desperate and, for me, it worked.

Good luck with the next ones! :)

Nancy

I have no luck with these guys. Maybe I could get them to grow in a huge window with unfiltered southern exposure, but as far as I'm concerned, Lithops will wait until I have a better space to grow them in.

Nancy is right about the gritty mix, the longest-lived one of these I had was in a mix of sand and pea gravel with a tiny bit of bark. I would recommend Stephen Hammer's book to learn more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stephen Hammer, The New Mastering the Art of Growing Mesembs

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately I think Ive done everything just as you explained. My soil was C&S soil, perilite, and bark. I placed in southern window. Watering was the only thing I could have done wrong. I'll try again:)

Oh! I've wanted to make and share this meme for a whole 24 hours since my husband said this phrase last night when I was talking about how concerned I was that this would happen to my brand new lithops that I've just acquired a month ago when I have to start actually watering them in the fall (that will teach me to talk to a tired computer programmer about plants far too late at night) This is my picture, run through a meme generator, and I've repotted the little dudes since taking it.
Oh, and I basically know nothing about these plants, but this website seems to suggest summer is the dormant period, as your results seem to indicate as well. It also has PICTURES. You've gotta love pictures, and if you're like me, every little extra bit if information helps when I'm on a quest for knowledge.
I'm sorry your rescues popped, and I wish you the best.
-R

Here is a link that might be useful: Lithops.info

Just don't water them...some lithops only need just a tiny bit of water 3 times a year and some wild lithops can go years without rain and survive on morning fog alone. Don't water at all in the summer unless it appears dry like a raisin, then just water a little near the base of the plant. Never soak the pot. It may take several days for it to soak it up. Always error on the side of less water. Never water in the winter when the leaves are splitting, it will mess with the growth cycle. Wait until the old leaves are completely dry before you water. Lithops need a very fast draining soil...infact the do well in soilless growing medium. These plants are extremely well adapted to very dry environments and are one of the best in the world at conserving water. They are not difficult to grow if you just stop watering and wait till they look like raisins. They are used to recovering from servere drought not floods. The only reason they are hard to grow is because they are too interesting to leave alone.