Growing Living Stones at 63rd Parallel North

in february i notice something new. one of my lithops plants which is splitting into two new sets of leaves is also growing flower spikes! one of them seems to be developing faster than the other. i know it's the wrong time of the year for this and especially since the splitting is happening at the same time. i think the plant is confused because i have treated it like an immature plant and kept watering and fertilizing it regularly after the first year milestone. the plant hasn't absorbed properly its previous leaves either. because splitting time is usually a sign that living stones shouldn't be watered and since my plant seems so confused i decide to stop watering all of the lithops plants and my argyroderma plant which is also splitting. i stop watering right after the first bloom opens. the first bloom lasts 4-5 days. unfortunately i was away for a night and cannot say for sure how long the flower lasted. it had withered when i returned. however i noticed that the ...

i am watering my conophytum plant still more often than the rest of the living stones. i water it on the 6th and the 12th of june. i also water all my living stones on the 9th and the 14th of june. besides watering i also fertilize all of them on the 30th of june. in the beginning of the month i let the plant lamps stay on for 16 hours but towards the solstice i reduce the hours to only 10 hours a day. it is because at that time i receive guests and i don't want them to be disturbed by the light when they are sleeping in my living room. i am also away for the end of the month and i decide i don't want to find my plants dried into raisins when i return. i am not sure if this is possible but it feels safer to leave the lamps on for only 10 hours a day instead of full 16 hours. i decided to have a break with fertilizing my plants after the transplant. nobody told me to do it, i just felt like doing it was the right thing to do. currently i fertilize with my cactus and succulen...

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 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...