Growing Living Stones at 63rd Parallel North

i continue watering the only conophytum more often than the rest of the living stones. i am a bit scared it could die at any moment because of the transplanting and because its neighbor did die of drought. i water the conophytum plant on the 2nd (it shows clear wrinkles), the 8th, the 15th and on the 22nd of may. i just let room temperature water run through the pot. in addition i bottom water and fertilize all of the living stones on the 5th, the 12th, the 19th and on the 28th of may. i also gradually increase the amount of light my plants receive until it is about 16 h/day at the end of the month. my only conophytum on the 7th of may . the conophytum plant is residing in a 125 ml cup because it is so tiny. the cup didn't have a drainage hole originally so i needed to drill one in it. you can find several tutorials from youtube by searching for "drilling hole ceramic pot". the important part is to use a correct drill bit and to remember to use water to prevent t

i water and fertilize my living stones on the 7th of april and notice that one of the conphytum plants has dried up and died. i watered the living stones just a week ago but it clearly was not enough. on the other hand both argyroderma plants are changing their leaves the second time. on the 9th i transplant the last living conophytum plant to a smaller pot. i realize it's too early but the plant is too tiny compared to its nursery pot. before i transplant my conphytum i remember to rinse the pumice. at this time my conophytum is also finally changing its leaves for the second time - its second set of true leaves. to me the conophytum calculus seem the most finicky of the bunch. only one out of ten has survived this far. i keep the photoperiod at 12 h/day during this month. as i receive guests this month i fiddle with the timer to keep the lights on during more pleasant hours such as 10 am to 10 pm versus 7 am to 7 pm. my guests sleep in the living room so i do not wish to dist

this month i continued gradually lenghtening the photoperiod (daylenght) with my plant lamps. at the end of the month i had my plant lamps on for 12 h/day. during this month i discovered that the monilaria plants were beginning to grow very strongly towards the light source and that one of the argyroderma plants had also begun changing its leaves the second time. i bottom watered and fertilized my living stones on the 6th, the 16th (one conophytum plant was wrinkled), the 22nd and on the 29th of march. a new monilaria leaf tip turned bright red after bursting into light.

this month i discovered that the 2 lithops plants with brand new leaves had etiolated. it means they had received too little light (8 h/day) and i began gradually lenghtening the photoperiod (daylenght) with my plant lamps. at the end of the month i had my plant lamps on for 10 h/day. i bottom watered and fertilized my living stones on the 2nd, the 7th (i didn't fertilize), the 11th, the 17th, the 22nd and on the 28th of february. the 2 etiolated lithops plants on the 7th of february the last lithops plant is finally splitting

i cannot quite recall what i thought after my long vacation. i suppose i just wanted to resume the watering. earlier i had tried to reduce the watering stepwise to adjust my living stones to the coming drought (my vacation). in the course of a 1,5 months i went from watering at 1 to 2 days intervals all the way to 6 days intervals. maybe i thought that it had been a bit of a speedy process. anyway afterwards i resumed watering at 4 to 5 days intervals. the 10th of january: - regular bottom watering the 16th of january: - bottom watering - 1 lithops plant dead, 3 left - 20 monilaria (1 really tiny) - 2 argyroderma plants - 2 conophytum plants the 23rd of january: - bottom watering and fertilizing - increasing the light (how long the lamps are on) by 30 minutes the 28th of january: - bottom watering and fertilizing - increasing the light (how long the lamps are on) by 30 minutes - 1 monilaria plant dead, 19 left - 3 lithops plants, 2 have changed their leaves - 2 arg

i tried to find detailed information about watering living stones seedlings. unfortunately the advice seems to stop when the first leaves are shed and the only advice after that is to reduce watering and that the plant is having a natural cycle after the first year is over. however nobody (i found) seems to describe the watering/fertilizing (after the first leaves). as far as i understand the life in the first year is different from the regular yearly cycle due to the plant being "immature" and needing more water. however i wanted to know all that happens in between the sowing and the 1st year mark. i found these instructions from world of succulents site: https://worldofsucculents.com/grow-lithops-seed/ (the watering of lithops seedlings is in the tips at the end of the article). other living stones didn't seem to have as detailed articles. however i don't know how good the advice is because when i compared some of the site's advice with vivante-pas

the monilaria (20) the lithops (4) the argyroderma (2) the conophytum (2) it's the 8th of january and the algae just blooms.  - they also turn black when they die...

it's the 4th of january and my living stones have been without watering for 18 days. 1 of the conophytum plants has gotten wrinkled but plumps back up the day after watering (the 5th of jan.). both of the argyroderma however have completed their leaf change. 1 of the lithops plants is in the middle of changing leaves. another one has grown the new leaves next to the old ones instead of splitting properly. all of the monilaria plants are splitting as well. so far none of my living stones died because of the extended drought. the artificial day lenght has been 8 h during the whole vacation.

during december i lenghten the watering schedule to watering every 7 days. i bottom water and fertilize every time. my watering schedule for the month of december: on the 2nd, 9th, 16th. i gradually decrease the light from 10 hours a day to 8 hours a day - half an hour after every watering. after the 16th of december i am taking a break because of winter holidays and my plants receive care next time only in january.

i decided to start watering my living stones regularly twice a week. i spray them with water and every other time i bottom water and fertilize instead. my watering schedule for the month of november: on the 1st (sprayed), 4th (bottom watered), 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 21st and 26th. on the 11th of nov. i noticed that both of my argyroderma plants are changing their first leaves. almost all of the monilaria have already their 3rd leaves. they are growing very fast. my 2 conphytum plants or my 4 lithops plants haven't done anything yet. all of the containers have a lot of algae. on the 26th of nov. i noticed that the conophytum plants are also changing their leaves. my living stones are 3-month-old! towards the end of the month i began to lengthen the time between waterings and to reduce the light from the plant lamps to 10 hours a day. in the end of the month the temperatures dropped to freezing temperatures outside and the indoor heating started. therefore the humidity indoo

i bottom watered and fertilized all of the containers on the 21st and 28th. i sprayed the containers with water on the 11th and 25th and i watered regularly from the top on the 14th. i also changed the light and now the plant lamps are on 11 hours a day.  my living stones turned 2 months old on the 28th of october!

i bottom water all of the containers properly and check my living stones. i see 19 monilaria, 6 conophytum, 8 lithops and 2 argyroderma. the argyroderma seem to have lost about 80 % of the originally germinated ones. the lithops have lost about 40 %, the monilaria about 13 % and the conophytum are still germinating.

the temperature is + 23 °C and the grow lights are on for 12 hours. i bottom water all of the containers properly but forget to fertilize. i see that the last one of the monilaria has also begun growing its "ears".

the temperature is + 22 °C and the grow lights are on for 12 hours. i bottom water all of the containers properly and check my living stones. i see 21 monilaria, 1 is still without "ears", 3 conophytum - maybe 4?, 14 lithops and 7 argyroderma. sadly not all of them made it and i blame my first vacation and too moist conditions. i am also aware that usually some of the seedlings succumb anyway without the use of a fungicide in the beginning.