Gibbaeum shandii is another one that looks really nice when grown well, but really nasty in poor light. I got them this far but then they went leggy and etiolated, which I don't have photos of! I should really chop them and go back to nice compact plants. Never had flowers on these.

Dactylopsis is an obligate winter grower, in the sense that it is a dead looking lump in the summer. Once new leaves emerge (fingers crossed) in autumn, keep them fat and happy until spring, then let them collapse. Tricky without lots of winter sun. They look great when grown well, but not so great ...

Welwitschia seedlings obviously don't need a 30cm pot, but they will in a couple of years and they don't like being moved. Same goes for sowing them together, but there probably has to be some concession to practicality. Avonia germinates quickly in hot conditions, but the seed is often not viable. ...

Congratulations, everyone should have a small collection of Lithops ;) Lithops are very tolerant in winter, provided they aren't getting dripped on. They are all quite happy down to freezing, and most a long way below that. They'll do OK indoors too, but might stretch a but in warmer darker conditio...

I bet you water before me My bet would be the leafy succulents like the Portulacra will look pretty bad after a few weeks without water. Echeverias too probably won't be happy. I don't think you'll kill any of them with two or even three months lack of water, but maybe it won't be pretty,

We have a uprising number of succulent natives, but not many xeric ones if you exclude the invaders like Disphyma and Carpobrotus.

L. karasmontana
L. lesliei
L. dorotheae

Canary Islands? There's all sorts of endemic succulents: Euphorbias, Aichryson, Greenovia, Aeoniums. There's also at least two naturalised Opuntias. Mesembryanthemum cristalinum is widespread In Spain although I don't know if you'd call it native.

That doesn't look like rot. Some of the tubercles are certainly burned. It might have happened now because the plant is stressed for some other reason though, so no harm in checking the roots.

Strangely, Fenestrarias have germinated well for me at the height of summer inside a greenhouse.

They would be at risk from extended freezes because they don't have the reserves to go for ages without food and water, but one night shouldn't be a problem. At one year old, most species should be large enough to go a whole winter outside with very limited water.

The plant looks healthy. The marks are caused by minor skin damage, which shouldn't be fatal. Perhaps water that evaporated and scorched the pad, or the opposite dampness that caused a slight fungal or bacterial growth. What you see now is essentially a scar - it won't go away but so long as they do...

"Stalks" are actually just leaves. Look closely they always come in pairs. The real stalk is way down, hardly visible except on very old plants. Mesembs in general won't root from leaves. Sometimes when you think you only have a leaf there is also a tiny bit of stem, like with Lithops, and...

A cactus outside will usually go through winter with no water at all. If it is cold it probably won't take up any water anyway, so best no to give it. Some of them can look pretty shrivelled but that's OK. Especially avoid the temptation to water anything with a taproot. They have loads of water sto...

Using a top dressing definitely reduces evaporation. What you call dying out "naturally" is not a good thing, though. "Natural" drying out is draining to lower levels of the soil and this doesn't happen in a pot, leaving the plant in unnaturally wet conditions close to the surfac...