How to grow Lithops? Getting the soil mix right is half the battle won

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Author: Yuji Duxing / Compiled by: Succulent Plant Atlas

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Now let's begin the main text:

I often see gardening friends posting questions, usually in this format: "Master, I'm in the free-shipping zone, please give me a soil mix!" I always want to reply with an emoji like this

As I said in the previous post, everyone's environment is different, which means the soil mix will also be different. If you just copy someone else's, it's easy to wipe out your whole collection! And this soil mixing thing is a lot like a chef cooking. If you ask the chef exactly how much salt to put in and how many chili peppers to add, I'm afraid the chef will send you this emoji too! Haha!

I believe many masters who have been growing for a long time basically mix soil "casually." The "casually" here doesn't mean truly carelessly, but rather that it contains rich growing experience.

These people's soil mixes are all marked by words like "basically" and "about right," rather than being strict down to the gram, so gardening friends who post questions often don't get responses from these people.

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To describe my soil-mixing journey with a four-character idiom: "dying to live, living to die"!

At the very beginning, when I was growing at home, I saw that the local greenhouse grew Sedum entirely in peat, and thought Lithops would be the same. Later, when I saw their steadily increasing size and inexplicable splitting (only later did I learn this is called splitting), I felt that this thing seemed to be grown differently from Sedum!!

At that time, the internet was not yet developed, so I had to figure everything out by myself. Thinking back, I killed so many good plants back then, it hurts!!

Later I added half sand to it (at that time there was no developed e-commerce, let alone granular soil for sale; peat was shipped by the whole bag, and I went with friends to carry it, still by money transfer! I've gone off topic again, haha). It seemed a bit better, but there was still some damage on the balcony.

And so, as e-commerce gradually developed, Sedum suddenly became a nationwide craze, and all kinds of granules appeared online. One day when I had nothing to do (and of course was feeling spendy), I saw fully granular soil online and thought I might as well give it a try. At that time I seemed to have bought a whole bag of kanuma, and I only remember being very tired after carrying it home! Very tired!!

After getting home, I repotted some into kanuma granules, while some still stayed in peat mixed with sand. At the time I was very enthusiastic and made a comparison. Unexpectedly, after one summer, the ones grown in all-kanuma granules had actually grown larger than the ones in peat mixed with sand, so in the spring of the second year I basically switched everything to granular soil and used it all the way until I put them into the local greenhouse!!

Once I got to the greenhouse, I deeply regretted using all granules. Can you all understand the feeling of needing 3 hours to water once, constantly picking up and putting down, and watering at least 2 times a week?

I also have a regular job. I need to secretly slip out of work once a week to water for an afternoon and then go home, with no rest on weekends, rushing around in the greenhouse (only 20 sq m is mine!!)

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Finally, let's get to the real point!

When I mix soil at home, I basically use 1-3mm granular soil. It contains volcanic rock; volcanic rock is used because it has holes, can drain water, and at the same time increases air permeability (very important). There is kanuma; kanuma will gradually break down into powder and can basically replace the role of peat. For nutrition, I generally add a small amount of rice husk charcoal (don't add too much, it easily burns seedlings; Lithops don't like much fertilizer), and then add some other granules, basically all of the same size.

At the bottom of the flowerpot, I put about 1 cm of ceramic pellets. On one hand they can drain water, on the other hand they can allow airflow, and at the same time there is also consideration of pest prevention.

In the greenhouse I basically use half peat mixed with half granules, because this way the soil retains water better and I don't have to water so frequently. But they have to be repotted every year, because it easily breeds root mealybugs. Of course, all-granular soil also breeds them, but with more peat the probability is greater. Although doing this saves watering time, repotting every year is also a big project. Each has its pros and cons!

(Note, repotting mature plants still requires caution, because if mature plants are too large, their vitality will be lower, and after repotting they are not easy to care for and easily die)

Surely some friends will say that many greenhouses use a lot of peat, so you're talking nonsense. What I want to say is:

First: You haven't seen the annual sowing volume and death volume in greenhouses! We hobbyists buy seeds one grain at a time and sow seeds one grain at a time. We can't compare with greenhouses scattering them by the handful. Of course, if we lose a few pots we feel awful, while greenhouses losing a few baskets have already gone numb!

Second: Greenhouses are all in it to make money. Isn't all-granular or half-granular soil more expensive? And changing soil once or several times every year, do you want the greenhouse owner to survive or not?

Third: Plants have a matter of tolerance and adaptability. If from the very beginning the plants adapt to that kind of growing environment and grow well, then all-peat growing is not a problem either.

Key point: When mixing soil, you must consider the soil's air permeability, because only then is it good for root growth. Once the roots grow well, the plant will be healthy and not easily die. If many times they don't grow roots, aside from weather and seasonal factors, and aside from the plant's own vitality issues, consider whether the soil is not so breathable.

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This is my personal experience and cannot represent the experience of all hobbyists. I just hope to give everyone a reference and help you arrive at your own experience. Thank you for reading all my rambling! Good night, I'm off to watch the game!

Statement: This series of posts was painstakingly typed out by me. Reprinting is welcome, but please be sure to indicate the source and author. Otherwise, once discovered, I will pursue it to the end. Thanks again!

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