Hello, I was quite dismayed to notice that one side of my lithops plant seems to be shrinking, and am hoping that somebody can help diagnose what it's suffering from, and if there is some way that I can fix things. A photo of the plant is attached. It had only recently (a week or two ago maybe) finished absorbing its old leaves, which I thought is rather late on schedule, but that's the condition in which I received them. They have not been watered throughout June and July, and the soil is perfectly dry. After noticing the shrinking I thought I might try giving it a bit of water two days ago, but it doesn't seem to have helped. Then I removed it from the pot and removed the dried sheathe to see if there was some rot happening (although I can't imagine why), but that's not obvious to my amateur eyes. :-( Unfortunately I live at the France-Switzerland border where summer means humidity and mold is just a fact of life... not much I can do about it, but the plants are kept inside (no exposure to rain) and near a window. I have no idea where I went wrong in their care. Please help? Sue Ann
I suspect normal senescence of the old stem, especially since the newer growth looks quite healthy. They may require a bit of water or feeding to mature more than a single pair of leaves given lower than optimal lighting. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cacti/msg0710183922005.html?13
