Sorry for your loss! It’s always sad when we loose one! 💗

That doesn’t surprise me! For me, my latest splitters have almost always been aucampiae the last few years. Other varieties split late for various reasons for me as well, but the aucampiae tend to be slow no matter how happy they are, and even well established plants that have bloomed ALWAYS split late for me! At first I thought it was just me, but now that I’ve had them a few years I feel pretty sure that it’s the variety not me. And your experience confirms that more! 😊

Typically that is caused from lack of sunlight. Mine take a good 10-12 hours under the grow lights a day, with a period of a month or two in the winter with a little less. But I find when I take them out to repot and leave them in my south facing windows they tend to stretch quite quickly in the winter. The sun just isn’t intense enough here in the winter to keep them from stretching even in a southern sunny window. And I’ve even had them stretch under the grow light when it wasn’t close enough or needed to be on more hours. Even if all of them aren’t stretching and a few are, it rarely hurts to up the light on all of them. Typically the least healthy lithops tend to stretch quickly, but the others won’t be far behind on the stretching if the light doesn’t increase before long. So a little extra rarely hurts! 😉 Hope that helps a little, and good luck! 💗

TY so much for the response! I figured it was lack of light but since none of the others were doing the same "stretching" I thought it might be something else. Now I know (thanks to you lol) each might be a slightly different lithop, I understand why some are splitting just fine and why this one isn't as happy with the light situation. It's still in quarantine in my east facing window...My large south facing window houses ALL my plants so, I have to be very careful since I found bugs on the lithops when I got them. I hope it can hang in there for a few more days I'll put the back under the light along with the natural sun from that side in the morning. TY again you're so knowledgeable!

Bonnie, so funny you bring this up! I was literally drying out some egg shells today for a few deficient plants, and thought I would make a video and talk about reasons you might want to use egg shells! Hopefully in the next week I will get that uploaded! Until then, yes, I do think there are definitely times when a calcium deficiency would make using eggshells beneficial. It takes about a year for crumbled egg shells to break down into a usable form of calcium, but there are ways you can speed that up, which I will discuss in the video. For a lot of succulents they grow well in typically calcium rich mediums, so calcium deficiencies aren’t as common as in many other plants. But depending on the potting medium there are definitely cases where extra calcium is helpful or needed. And egg shells are a great source! 💗

Great - thanks!

@@phileofarm1 I blend them in a motor so they are not too powdery...I dont know if that helps but my plants are heathy so far

Rowena Pingol, I actually only have one, which someone sent me about 6 months ago. I really haven’t done nearly as much with split rocks compared to many other mesembs. I wanted to get a bunch this year at Home Depot or Lowe’s and experiment on them with various things and get a lot more familiar with their habits and likes etc. as there isn’t a ton of written info on the split rocks. I had a couple a few years ago, but just threw them in a pot and was so sick that they died of dehydration! 😱. And that’s pretty hard to do with these guys, usually they rot! So I REALLY neglected them and decided to wait till I felt better to mess with them again, and then someone sent me this current one that I have! But none of the Home Depot’s or Lowe’s on our area had any mesembs this year, so I wasn’t able to get more and start learning and experimenting. I had a couple die of rot a few years back from big box stores too... but that’s the extent of my experience with them, just a handful a few years back that didn’t survive. So I don’t really feel like I can give too much input other than my research and what NOT to do! 😉. My current one is doing ok, but time will tell. These guys have a almost amazing ability to look great and then suddenly die. Having a VERY gritty mix, like pure pumice or close is a must in my opinion for best results. They seem very prone to fungal infections that cause them to suddenly rot at the base and turn to mush. Overwatering can do this too, but the rot usually presents slightly differently. I want to experiment with some natural anti fungals and different substrates and see if there is some way to prevent their finicky systems from getting infected. But as of yet I haven’t been able to find more this year. I’m sure eventually I will find more, or if not I will order some for my experimentation. When I do I will be sure to share what I discover as it’s frustrating how little info is available outside of random articles and plant journals etc. And even there, the articles are pretty few and far between! I wish I had more to offer you, but other than a few that I killed right when I was getting into succulents, and then a few a couple years ago that came in a “mix of mesembs” I purchased, (which also died from extreme neglect while I was extremely ill) I just really haven’t had many split rocks! But if I find more info, or get some more experience I’ll be sure and share! 💗💗

Kristen Deason wrween autumn and spring- no water!!