Pleiospilos VS Lithops – Best Guide to Choose Between

If you have some liking for the ice-plants like Pleiospilos and Lithops to give your garden a refreshing look but don’t know which one to select and how to take care of them, you have nearly solved your problem visiting this page.

Read this guide till the end, and you can grow these unmatched plants in your garden like a pro.

But before discussing how we can beautify our garden with these living rocks, we will have some knowledge about the plants.

Pleiospilos VS Lithops

Pleiopilos and Lithops belong to the same family Aizoaceae, a family of ice plants, having South Africa as their origin. You can find 135 genres of ice plants and nearly 1800 species in this plant family.

Whether it’s Pleiopilos or Lithops, growing them is a superb idea if you want to give your garden a rocky look. They further enhance the beauty when it comes to their flowering season. But growing both of them at the same place is not a good idea; Why? It’s for the following reasons:

• Don’t look desirable together.
• The life cycle they follow is different.
• Different requirements of watering.

Let’s discuss them both to choose the better for your garden.

Features of Pleiopilos

Pleiopilos, most popularly known as the Mimicry plant or Split Rock, is a distinctive plant from the family of ice plants.

Not taller than few inches, having two to three leaves in purple or gray-green, this plant is fond of blistering light, dry, and arid areas. They need a small amount of water and nutrients to grow; that’s why they can bring up in the areas where there is poor soil and less water.

The plant gives large flowers in various colors – usually orange and yellow, but sometimes they are pink and white. A unique thing about the flowers of Pleiopilos is that they appear to be very large compared with the size of the plant.

Varieties of Pleiopilos.

Following are some varieties of this rocky plant.

• Pleiospilos bolusii
• Pleiospilos compactus
• Pleiospilos leipoldtti
• Pleiospilos nelli
• Pleiospilos simulans

How to grow Pleiospilos?

• Prepare the soil by adding some sand to meet the requirement of the plant.
• After you have prepared the soil, flatten the earth.
• Put seeds on it, and then sprinkle some soil on it and slightly press it.
• Sprinkle some water to moisten the earth.
• Provide a sunny environment until the seeds start germination.
• After the germination, you can go with partial light.

Tips to Follow in Growing Pleiospilos in Your Garden

Pleiospilos is an easy-to-grow plant and doesn’t need much care and effort, but some issues need special attention because it is a plant of semi-desert and arid areas. Here are some tips to make the plant develop in a better and healthy way.

Pleiospilos likes sandy soil, so you need to provide suitable soil to the plant by adding sand and rocks to the earth.You need to ensure that the soil has less nitrogen and a comparatively high amount of potassium and phosphorous.Be conscious about the soil on the seeds and make sure you are putting a thin layer because if you put a thick layer, they will not get enough light to start germination.

Water the plant only when the soil is completely dried out. Be conscious of the temperature around and reduce the number of watering when the temperature falls.Try to give the plant maximum exposure to sunlight, which you need to arrange when growing the plant indoors.

If you are in an area where the temperature can fall below thirty degrees, you need a pot to grow your plant so you can move it indoors when it is the coldest. It doesn’t need to have fertilizers, but if your soil is low in phosphorous or potassium, you can use a small amount of fertilizer.

If you have chosen to grow Lithops in your garden, continue reading the article as we are now about to discuss how to grow Lithops in your garden. So, let’s have a brief intro to this matchless ice plant.

Features of Lithops?

Lithops has some other names because of their similarity to rocks, for example, Split Rocks, Pebble Plant, or Living Stones. It is a type of succulent and loves to live in extremely high temperature, sand soil, and very little water.

Lithops do not grow high, and the height of the plant is usually up to an inch. The whole body of the plant is two leaves that resemble the stones put together.

The best environment for Lithops to grow is less nutrient sandy soil with lesser water to approximately no water. The earth should be for most of the time in dry condition.be for most of the

It needs to have sunlight exposure for healthy growth. Sunny or partial shade both goes for the better development of the plant. Its body though short but is capable of getting enough sunlight.

The flowering season of Lithops is the end of the autumn, or it is winter. A single yellow-colored flower blooms from the center of the plant, and this flower blooms when the plant has the age of  3 years or more. In some species, the color of the flower is white.

One action-packed fact about this plant is its self-defense. It adopts the color of the environment where the stone-like looking makes it safe from animal harm.

Variations of Lithops

There are many varieties of Lithops. They are different in color – varying in grey, pink, green, and rust, markings on them, and the texture of the body. So you have a wide range to choose from according to your taste and liking. Lithops have 37 species and 145 varieties.

Lithops can be a better option if you want to put varied colored living stones in your garden to make it a rainbow of colors.

How to grow Lithops in your garden?

• Prepare the soil on the ground or in the pot.
• Throw the seeds and put a thin layer of soil on them.
• Spray water on the soil to make it moist.
• The seeds must have plenty of sunlight to start germination.
• Wrap the place or pot with a plastic covering.
• Remove the covering when the seed has started germination.

Though it requires no hard work, you must take care of some sensitive issues to grow this living stone a healthy way.

Tips to Follow in Growing Lithops in Your Garden.

Add some sand to the soil to provide the plant a favorable atmosphere to grow because it is a plant of arid areas.Provide the plant a lot of sunlight, which is essential for its growth.

Maintain the temperature at a higher level from 65 degrees up to 80 degrees is ideal, and it should not be below 50 degrees to avoid damage to the plant.

Though the plant doesn’t need much of the nutrients, therefore, no need for fertilizers; but if your soil has less phosphorous, consider using a small amount of it for better growth.

You must be very conscious about the amount of water you are giving to the plant. Being succulent, Lithops doesn’t need much water,  nearly any water, so try to keep the soil dried. Overwatering can put the plant to root.

What is the similarity between Pleiospilos and Lithops?

• Both belong to the same family.
• The environment they need to grow is more or less similar.
• Their looks resemble each other, so many people who don’t have good information may confuse.

The difference of the two; Pleiopilos VS Lithops

• Though much is similar, they are different in many features;
• Pleiospilos is bigger than Lithops in size.
• Pleiospilos can have more than one flower in the plant, but Lithops can have only one flower at a time.

Which one is easier to grow in the garden?

Though both are easy to grow, Pleiopilos need low maintenance than Lithops because Lithops need to have a higher temperature, which can be hard to maintain in a cold area. Temperature maintenance can become more difficult when you are growing Lithops indoors.

Pleiopilos VS Lithops – which looks more attractive?

It is hard to say which one is more attractive but Lithops having a wide range of colors and variety is more likely to attract the growers. You can choose one or many different colored plants to beautify your garden.

Conclusion

In the end, we can say that both plants are easy to grow and can give a unique look to your garden if you give them your little energy and passion. It is up to you now, which one you want to rock your garden.

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