New year, new life for lithops - part 3 (10 pics)

Continuing with the regeneration pictures here is the next bunch.

L. gesinae v. annae C078

One has less regenerating to do than the other. The left plants is one of my very first plants, bought as adult in 2008, making it at least 10 years old. Age doesn't show on lithops. It looks just as young as back then :)

This one is two-headed, bought last year, and the left head grew just slightly long. After ripping it open the new leaves are as short and flat as they should be. Just a small corrective surgery.

L. julii ssp. fulleri v. brunnea C179

This one I also have since 2008 and for the last several years it has settled down to this perfect round and short shape. I'm not good with L. julii but this one is being very patient with me. The new leaves have just started showing. Its neighbor will have to be transplanted as it's almost finished and will need water soon.

L. bromfieldii var.glaudinae 'Rubroroseus' C393A 
These are 2012 seedlings and almost done changing leaves. I itch to water them. They'll double in size then.

L. gracilidelineata
This is one of my 2009 seedlings. A very beautiful plant and already all new, same as its siblings.

L. hookeri v. lutea
It doesn't look like a lutea but okay. It's pretty and healthy and that's the main thing.

L. hookeri 
All growing nicely flat, making me proud.

The next guys are new since last summer and will hopefully adapt their life cycle to the new windowsill conditions (they are initially greenhouse grown). So far so good. I always have difficulties with white flowering lithops.

L. hallii (Kalk Kraal)

L. hallii v. ochracea (Ghams)

Thirsty lithops (6 pics)

I'm posting some pictures of thirsty lithops on demand :)

I have just taken them so these are examples of thirsty lithops that do NOT need to be watered. It's November and this is how they should look like this time of the year. No need to feel sorry for them.

However, if you see them like this in the time period from April to September (October, if still sunny), and the surface is soft to the touch, it's a clear sign that the plant needs and should get some water. There is an exception when it's very very hot in Summer and the plants get wrinkly but the surface stays hard as stone - this means they went into a heat induced sleep and should not be bothered. They can be watered when in doubt but they most likely will not react until the heatwave is over so they better be left alone.

Here are the typical signs of a thirsty plant:

1. The sides get wrinkly. Easy to see on those that grow in a longer shape naturally (olivacea or dorotheae or julii)

2. The plant tries to bury itself. This you can see on short-bodies plants (lesliei or bromfieldii). They look like pies with a crust from above. You'll see the wrinkles on the sides if you dig them up a bit.

Of course in Summer you don't need to wait for this level of dehydration and can water much sooner if it's sunny. However, a grown up plant can take it and you can go on a 3 week vacation no problem. Once watered they will return to their normal shape in a day or two.

Newcomers - Lithops (13 pics)

Firstly, I'd like to introduce the new lithops I got from Klaus Ingenwepelt. I bought a couple of plants of each kind so there are actually more plants than the photos below and they are still in their original pots and substrates. Normally, lithops have it more cozier at my place, growing in groups of at least two in one container. But I'm generous with room these days and it can wait.

I was not very successful buying adult white-flowering lithops before but I think I have more experience now so I decided to get mostly hallii, karasmontana and julii this time, knowing that they were grown perfectly shaped which will give them a good start on my windowsill. They all have nice and sharp patterns and the best size. Even the aucampiae, that tend to grow huge in commercial nurseries, are so wonderfully small and round. This is definitely the goal for us hobby growers :)

Among the yellow-flowering lithops I really liked L. hookeri v. lutea and would have bought several but there was only one plant left. It has a nice dark color, in contrast with the usual light-green or orange.

And this strange guy is a Conophytum verrucosum, the only cono I can show you as all the others I bought look like the C. ectypum ssp sulcatum below. Photos will follow in the fall.

I'll post the pictures of other mesembs soon, too.

Small plants (5 pics)

I'm fond of small plants. I guess that's why I'm growing lithops. But also among lithops I like the smaller, more compact plants and, in truth, the smaller the plant the easier it is to care for it under windowsill conditions. I'm often using the word "downsizing" with the meaning of letting or making the plant reduce its size to the manageable minimum. And I don't have in mind an unhealthy shrinking and slowly withering. A small plant can be fit and healthy and strong. It can be grown to be small from seed or, with a little bit of luck and patience, made small by strict watering and poor substrate. Not all plants can go from fat to slim (fat plants tend to die during regeneration before they get a chance to downsize) but those that can will thank you with more intense color and sharper pattern.

I've had success with these L. lesliei and L. hookeri in this regard. Over the course of about 2 years they went from bloated to flat and tiny and now don't have any troubles regenerating like it was the case at the beginning. With the Albinicas below I had serious doubts they will make it at all. The plant heads on the pictures go from 7mm to 15mm in size.

I'm not a friend of L. julii or karasmontana but I found out that I can only grow them if they are kept small.

More lithops changing leaves (6 pics)

I know I've just posted a pic of this one but it really deserves a regular feature. It started so poorly and has gone through some weird changes but is now a perfect little Cerberus. Love it!

More of the L. lesliei ssp. burchellii (C308) seedlings are rapidly regenerating. This is my large windowed selection. They are so flat they are almost going underground in winter.

And another L. lesliei v. venteri (C1), just because of its perfect regeneration style. Showing it as an example to all other lithops out there! :D

L. hallii v. ochracea (C111) are taking it slow. One has lost a head this winter. It has just dried inside the old leaves for some reason. It happens. You cut the dead head off and the remaining one will grow normally.

In fact, I performed this operation on the L. dorotheae de Boer two years ago (the one in the back) and it is doing just fine.

L. hookeri still have a lot of meat to go through.