Living stones (seed, mixed species)
Lithops (mixed species)
Mixed lithops seed from a National Collection. They are said to be tricky to raise from seed, so they are being watched.
Three seeds to a pot, eight pots, on a cactus mix Kirsty made after dark: coir, perlite, cactus gravel and a pinch of volcanic rock, with the silver sand from the pack on top. Each pot sits under a homemade humidifier, which is a water bottle from the recycling. The bottles come off once the seed is up; until then the job is watching the moisture.
- Common name
- Living stones (seed, mixed species)
- Section
- Propagation
- Spot
- Indoors (propagation tent)
- Soil
- Our own cactus mix: coir, perlite, cactus gravel and a pinch of volcanic rock, topped with silver sand
- Options
Potential
Raised from seed for the windowsill: a pan of mixed living stones, if enough come up.
- From
- Seed from a mail-order seed specialist, Oct 2026
- Age
- Seed
- Next repot
- Around Oct 2027
- Edible
- ❌ Not for eating.
- Hardy
- ❌ No: indoors all year
- Garden-centre price
- Estimate once germinated
Did you know?
The name is Greek for 'stone face'. They pass for pebbles so that anything thirsty walks straight past.
Care & updates
- What to expect
- Germination in one to three weeks, if they are going to. After that, green dots for months: a seedling takes most of a year to look like anything.
- Sown
Sown after dark, the day they arrived: three seeds to a pot on Kirsty's cactus mix, with the silver sand from the pack on top. Some seeds stuck to the packet and were freed with improvised bonsai tweezers. Eight pots, hopefully of three. Each under a cut water bottle, in the propagation tent.