Due to the extreme environmental conditions in which Conophytum species occur, the plants go into dormancy during the hot, dry summer months. The leaves die and dry out, creating sheaths protecting the following season's growth. In autumn, C. wettsteinii comes out of dormancy and produces a flower which persists until mid-winter. The leaves then continue to grow during the rainy winter months, and the plants return into dormancy with the approach of the dry hot summer.

Many Conophytum species are associated with gravel patches, e.g. quartz fields, which occur from the Knersvlakte northwards to the Richtersveld and Warmbad region. Conophytum wettsteinii is known from granitic patches around Steinkopf, forming large cushions and often growing in moss (Hammer 2002). The population north of Umdaus, however, was found in a quartz field, occupying a different geology, although similar habitat to the other known population of C. wettsteinii.

A range of flowering times exist in Conophytum from morning, late afternoon, early evening to night. Conophytum wettsteinii flowers during the day and has recently been shown to be predominately pollinated by small wasps (Juergens 2002).

The leaves of Conophytum wettsteinii are also interesting, with little translucent spots caused by tannin idioblasts (cells that differ from those around them in the same tissue). These idioblasts are thought to channel the influx of light into the leaf (Hammer & Hartmann 1990). The tannin idioblasts are also visible on the sheaths in the form of little brown dots.