Watering techniques for lithops seedlings Solved

[Magi]

Allow me to preface the question with an excerpt on lithops transplanting from Desmond T. Cole's Lithops - Flowering Stones (1988)

Having cut back the roots, we establish the plants in the soil in their new pots or trays and give a thorough watering immediately...especially after a dry winter, a plant (after transplantion) may not react to watering. Very often drip treatment will then do the trick - slowly dripping water directly onto the particular plant...This needs to be done daily, or even twice a day

Some experienced growers on this forum, however, opt to withhold water for a few weeks if initial watering does not plump up the plant. The theory behind this is for a plant to take up water, feeders roots must be present and alive. Hence, excessive watering when only the tap root remained after transplantation will only increase the risk of rot.

The two culture notes seems to be at odd with each other.

As a novice I am not sure how I should be watering following transplantation of my Lithops otzeniana 'aqaumarine' sown February 22nd 2017. The seedling have been dry for 3 weeks prior to the operation (performed Nov 22nd 2017), thus there was essentially no feeder root present. I've drenched the medium (10% fine aquarium gravel and 90% pumice) immediately after transplanting. Two of the largest seedling continued to add on wrinkles 48 hours after and showed no signs of taking in the water.

What should I do in this case. Continue to 'I.V.' my plants with moisture as Mr. Cole had suggested, or should I wait?

Right before the transplant. These are all first true leaves.


48Hours after transplanting...



Note: The seedlings were kept dried outside below 12 Celsius for 3 weeks under weak autumn sunlight. After moving to their new home, conditions are strong artificial light with temperature never dipping below 24 Celsius at night.

[Cidermanrolls]

I'm not a lithops expert, but why would you stress the plant so much immediately after what equates to a major operation? Constant 24c or more must put a stress on the plants.

[Terry S.]

For any plants, repotting is best performed early in their growing season. Your lithops are now starting their dormant phase when you should not be watering them and it was a big mistake to transplant them now, it should have been left until about May next year. Having done it, you will need to rehydrate them. So I suggest that you give them a little bit more warmth now, maybe on a house windowsill and give them one or two drinks until they get back to a turgid state. Note that the small feeder roots on lithops will develop within a day when moisture is available to them.

I have just read your post again and had not realised how hot you were keeping them. 24C is far too warm for the winter resting phase of these plants.

[Aiko]

For any plants, repotting is best performed early in their growing season. Your lithops are now starting their dormant phase when you should not be watering them and it was a big mistake to transplant them now

I don't agree on them being transplanted to be a mistake in this time of the year (watering however, yes, a big mistake!). The worst thing you can do with Lithops is to water them right after transplanting. I would not water my Lithops again until late spring even when not transplanted, so I would think it might just well be a good time for them to transplant as the roots have many months to recover before they will be watered again. Risk of root rot and losing the entire batch of plants is therefore reduced greatly. Transplanting and watering too soon is how I killed most Lithops. Somehow the roots rot really easy when they are damaged.

And I would certainly keep my plants really cool. Definately not at those warm temperatures. They are probably better at coping with light freezing temperatures than constant high ones. And they dry out too fast with that kind of heath. Just keep them nice and cool until next spring.

[mary44]

I wonder why you repotted them? They were not overcrowded.

Anyway. The last photos of them seem to show the seedlings have been cooked by being to close to the lights and too hot. Raise the lights up and turn the temperature down.

I fear though it is too late.

[KarlR]

My experience growing Lithops under artificial light (using metal halide bulbs), is that they don't like it. While othgerer succulents like Pseudolithos absolutely thrived under the lights, the Lithops just seemed to hate it.

With the amount of heat the lights produced, it was necessary to water regularly and I think that was the big problem with keeping Lithops happy. Seems to me they pretty much need a long resting period and have no interest in skipping that in order to keep growing.

Minimum temperatures of 24 degrees C will require regular watering and that will prohibit a prolonged resting period. Particularly for juveniles. I'm no expert on Lithops but, after having grown a lot of cacti and succulents under artificial lights, they (along with Conophytum) were really the only ones that languished in those conditions.

Perhaps better results can be achieved using LEDs producing less heat. I had two 400W MH-bulbs and was amazed with the results but, while the heat produced was a huge advantage for some species, it was less so for others.

[iann]

They certainly look unhappy. I guess the climate of Canada isn't quite like South Africa? I would expect seedlings of this age to quite happily go through winter without any water. In my conditions, that means little sun for several months, indoors because I pamper the babies but waaay below 24C. In practice I'll splash them once or twice over winter but would never transplant Lithops at this time of year. My preferred time is the end of winter or early spring. I find that they lose their old leaves especially quickly after transplanting which is a bonus in my cool humid climate.

[Ivan]

I leave all my Lithops completely dry. Even when transplanting, they are left for a couple of weeks or longer. If there is one thing I learned from Ian is, If you think they need water, they don't. If they look like they need water, they might. I do, however, agree they need to be kept cool, dry but cool in the winter. Don't be afraid to get them out of the soil right away. And leave them bare root for a bit. Sprinkle some water in maybe a couple of months after being planted in a dry mix. BTW, that 3 leaved one in the first picture looks like it might be interesting.

[RICHAUD]

when I repot my Lithops (many 100) it' s in summer and I always water them immediatly with water added with a fungicide
At 24°C you water them and add a fungicide for soil because if you let your rarity like that you'll loose them

[Magi]

After reading all these replies I am starting to hope that one of you would suddenly show up at my doorstep and yank these poor seedlings from my custody. In fact if that happens I'd be quite relieved, as obviously I'm clueless.

So what lead me to perform such egregious operation at this time of the year?

I few days ago I tipped them over while I was trying to rearrange my collection. I knew then the best thing to do was probably to just fill in the gaps where the spilled substrate had been, but I guess in the end dumb impulse will triumph over reasons.

Anyways, poor decision had been made and I must now minimize the the risk of losing more plants.

Immediately after reading all the comments, I've relocate the seedlings to a cool shaded windowsill and seized all watering. I believe at the moment most plants are still alive, even though two of the seedlings continue to add on more wrinkles (see pictures), and one of them showed signs of permanent heat stress (from the light and high temperature as some of you have kindly pointed out).

Would it be possible to force these seedlings back into dormancy by allowing the pot to completely dry out and kept them chilled until next spring? or have I reached a point of no return and must continue watering them?

Victim #1. Shoulders are burnt from too much heat and light. Wrinkles continue to develop. I have noticed the strange vestigial tissue on the side while the plant was bareroot. Originally I though it might be new leaves bursting from the side, but it wasn't.


Victim #2.


At the moment I am frustrated by my own action and would be grateful to derive anything salvageable.