| Cultivation: Need an open 
        mineral, fast draining mix and the maximum amount of light you are able 
        to give them. The basic cultivation routine is: Stop watering after 
        flowering. Start watering after the old leaves completely dry. (Usually 
        late March or Early April) Water freely during the growing season, soak 
        the compost fully but allow it to dry out between waterings. Some 
        growers fertilize frequently, some hardly ever. Keep them dry during the 
        winter. Nearly all problems occur as a 
        result of overwatering and poor ventilation 
        especially when weather conditions are dull and cool or very humid.
        
         
        
        In  the
        
        winter
        
        season the plant doesn’t need
        
        watering, but they will still be
        
        growing, the new
        
        bodies will be increasing in size as the old outer
        
        leaves begin to shrivel. In fact the plant in this time 
        extracts
        
        water and
        
        nutrient stored in the outer
        
        succulent leaves, allowing them to
        
        dehydrate relocating the water  to 
        the rest of the plant and to the new leaves that form during this period until the old leaves are reduced to nothing more than 
        "thin papery shells". 
        Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of 
        Lithops 
        shwantesii |