I'm clueless about how to manage Arachnoideums. I love both the mounded form and the magic carpet look. But I'm a big wimp and get nervous when I see rosettes getting swallowed up. Won't they die and rot in there and cause issues???

Here's 'Pygmlian' that I just divided cuz I was nervous about the unsymmetical, lumpy heap it was growing into. The larger part that remains still makes me kinda nervous.


How 'bout this guy? Can I just let it get bigger and bigger? Something's gotta give... right?
Won't it get wet an gooey inside there in the Winter?


Here's 'Martin 1' that I got earlier this year. I planted out the four rosettes I received and they've practically carpeted the area. Do I just let them keep on doing their own thing?


And here's that infamous weed 'Fords Spring'. Every time I see it I have to resist the urge to pop its top off.


What's your strategy?

Hi Tim. Love this new thread.

I find that there are many forms of growth habit within the arachnoideum types. Some make beautiful mounds and seem to have no trouble with staying healthy, even in my very wet winters and spring. Some will even grow up and over walls/rocks. I love seeing them do that.
Other arachs seem happy to just keep spreading out like a carpet. Love this form also.
Then there are those that form a more lumpy, course mound. I'm not overly found of this form of growth, but it still has it charm. I think this type takes a little more work to keep the colony healthy.

I'll try to add some photos for examples.

I just let them grow however they want to. Unless your soil can hold a lot of water or you get lots of rain with no time for drying out etc mounding won't hurt them, it's how many of them naturally grow. Matter of preference really

I too like this thread and how nicely your plants are growing Tim. I agree with Paul it is preference.
Tim you and I have similar weather in the winter - very wet, so I do have to cover mine or they rot, I tried several different things but nothing else worked until I covered the whole area - this goes for all my semps though. I haven't found that they are any more prone to rot being mounded together or spaced, if you are getting enough rain/water they are going to begin to rot.
Your plants look great!

Dude... are you saying your Arachnoideums rot without rain protection? Regardless of arrangement? I didn't have any Arachs rot last winter... but I only had a handful. I have more this year, and more congestion.

Hmmm... I think I need two things:

1) Knowledge of each cultivar's growing habit
2) Patience

I have neither. Consider the following two cases:

This one I planted hoping it would drape down on gossamer threads and adorn those rock faces. Epic fail 1.


This one I hoped would bunch up in that rock crevice. Instead this one made long thread-like stolons that I had to push back and stack on top of each other. Epic fail 2.


I think I'll take the second one and put him where he can drape down a creviced rock face.

Tim I'm just saying my experience, which was for all types of semps - including arachs. Your epic fail 2 wasn't really a fail, you just have to rearrange it! Then once they offset it'll fill in, this is where the patience comes in...or you could buy several of the same types to fill the space, I have done that.

I can't tell you what this arach's name is, but it sure does do the "waterfall thing" in a big way!

Oh yeah! Spill and fill !!

Holy cats' whiskers!

That is amazing Kate. Holy cat's whiskers, that really is spill and fill.
Great responses Connie and Tim.

That's what I need for my table garden. Too bad we don't know the name.

I have an entire raised bed of ±15 otherwise-named arachs but this one is the most prolific of them all - but I don't have the name.