Pleiospilos are tough. Every bit of advice is contradicted by another bit of advice. Even more than most plant help we need to preface it with in my experience.

If you water, the plant won't reabsorb the old leaves. Except that this year mine was completely dry from Oct. to April, during which time it added two new sets of leaves. After watering this spring it did finally reabsorb one set of leaves while growing another.

If you don't water in the winter it won't bloom the following spring. Except that mine was dry for five months and is now ready with multiple blooms.

What I'm trying to say is that relevant advice is hard to come by. Conditions here in the high desert-hot, very dry, brilliant light-are hard to match up with other places.

The only certain advice i can give is don't overwater and even what that means is open to discussion. Don't fertilize, although some people do. But absolutely for sure, the most intense light available.

Yours looks as though it had lush conditions-greenhouse, fertilizer, etc. and will probably change out in the real world.

I would report into a slightly larger but much deeper pot. And much more free draining potting mix. Cactus mix with 50% added perlite would do.

I don't know a thing about this plant as I can't find a single one for sale here.. but I do want to wish you all the good luck in growing a happy split rock! You can do it!!

Thanks for the feedback, davez7anv. WOW! You are the "stack God". I had never seen a pic with some many sets of leaves on a split rock. Indeed, it is thriving. Since this would be it's "normal" time to water, I suppose I will give it a drink after I clean old soil and repot. I am hoping this will go smoothly. I am currently frustrated with an Old Lady Cactus I just purchased. It was root bound (not the worst I've seen) and the soil was so dense and compacted that I keep breaking the roots - gentle touch and all. Using a chopstick, a bobby pin, etc, etc. Tried running water....it has barely made a difference. I have made progress, but again, my concern is that I may be damaging too many roots. Any ideas?

Thanks, Violet for your good wishes! Happy planting to you as well!

you might try dunking it in a pail of water, swishing it gently back and forth, or if you have a sink sprayer use that at low force. then pot into dry mix and don't water for a while. roots usually regenerate quickly so I wouldn't worry about that and when pot bound breaking the roots actually encourages them to grow out of the ball.

davez7anv

how is your split rock doing? did it grow a lot. do you think should split rock be replanted deeper than they are in their original store container?

Cheska, what you have is not a split rock (Pleiospilos nelii), but a Delosperma lehmannii, which grows more like a tiny shrub. You will see a little stem in between the pairs of leaves, which a split rock doesn’t have. It likes more water than most succulents, and will let you know it is thirsty by wrinkling its leaves ;-).

Thanks! Ive been searching for what it is for like a week!