2. Setup

My growing setup is rustic. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to put up a greenhouse but for now the best approximation will have to do. The climate here is pretty good for Lithops. We have about 300 days of sunshine a year, relatively low rainfall (500 - 1000mm p.a., during summer). Summer temperatures are from the mid teens to mid thirties. Winter is short, dry and mild with temperatures going down to 0 °C only for short periods. Winter days are mostly sunny even if cool and snow is unknown.

Rainfall, while modest, is still too much for Lithops so I keep them under a sheet of 6mm glass. (Insist on toughened safety glass, which is more expensive but not nearly as expensive a lost life or limb!) On the glass I place a double layer of frost cover to create light shading since our direct sun burns Lithops. This setup also keeps the birds out. I think they mistake the plants for food, pull them out of the ground and when they discover they're not terribly appetising they spit them out and leave them there. During the hottest summer months from around October to February I lay a couple of sticks on the glass to give a bit of extra shade, since things can get extremely hot and bright during that period.

For watering I use these principles.

I only feed occasionally - perhaps twice a year with a liquid fertiliser. One grower remarks "before you fertilise more than once, think about just what this tiny plant is going to do with accumulated fertiliser, a plant that only grows two leaves a year..."  Indeed!

Two tables	Young seedlings	Some adults & older seedlings
	Extra shading in mid summer