I was given 3 Sempervivums as a gift a few months ago, very small, super cute. I've been trying to take care of them, but I'm afraid I failed.
I have them in a glass bowl... terrible, I know :(. In the bowl I got a layer of sand, a layer of moss, activated carbon pallets, potting soil (sand and regular soil) and pebbles on top. I water them about once a week. I keep them in my west facing room, no direct sunlight unfortunatelly, but I have blue, red and violet led stripes right next to them.
What happened is that they grew a lot, but the leaves turned downwards and the plant lost a little bit of color. I removed the pebbles and checked the soil, it was dry enough and the roots are not rotting. I gently squeezed the leaves, they seem "fat", but not rotting. No parasites, as far as I can tell.
Any suggestion what went wrong? Why do my plants look so miserable? :(

Its quite simple, they look etiolated, they are stretching for more light, as an alpine plant they need more light! A few led strips are not enough to substitute for the sun. I keep aquariums with some high tech lighting, and my best most expensive LED light still throws less light with plants 18 inches below it than there is outside in bright shade.
Id give them some outside time, not full sun at first, but maybe under roof on a bright porch for a few weeks until they get used to it and then move them to some sunshine, and plan an outdoor container, they need a cold period during winter to thrive as well.

Thank you for your advice. Keeping them outside is not an option, I live at an apartment complex. I don't want them to die, so I suppose I will try and give them to someone who can take better care of them.

Hi AnnaJ Semps are really challenging indoors, I never had luck. When I thought they were doing better they'd nearly die, as soon as I brought them outside they perk up. I think there is moisture and wind that they need for survival
There are house plants for your conditions.
You could also plant them somewhere on public property that you can watch them progress, you'd need to water them every now and then

Hello AnnaJ, I have never been a fan of growing any of my succulents in containers without drain holes. If that were my plant, I would move it to a proper container with drain holes. In your present set-up, yes you do control watering, but the accumulated salts is not being flushed out either.

Alpine succulents like semps loves cooler conditions, so indoors it is really a challenge to grow them. Lots of bright light but cooler air around and good drainage is its ideal growing culture.

Thank you for the kind words.
I know my apartment isn't suitable for growing plants; picture huge windows, gorgeous sunsets, but minimal direct sunlight.
I didn't have any plants at all, till a friend gave me these three cuties saying they were forgiving and easy to care for.
Apparently that's not the case. It breaks my heart to see them suffer, but not much I could do about the light.

You can still correct the container you are growing them in. As long as you are aware that there are still other factors that may contribute for it not thriving as expected.

There are other low light plants more ideal for indoor growing.

I have had some growing in my basement for about 6- 8 months that are doing ok mostly as a experiment I do have most of mine outside.
I use a florescent light basically standard shop light but with daylight bulbs in it however I have the light about 8 inches above the plant.
Also as stated above drain holes would help a lot if not at least a few inches of stones on the bottom .

I took them over to a neighbor's place, her apartment gets plenty of light. She will keep them for two week'ish and maybe the plants like it there. Meanwhile I ordered a new container, I will give it a try and repot them when I bring them home.
Thank you again.

I have a friend who grows two indoors, but they're so etiolated that they don't look much like semps. They're growing but oddly

I don't know what to do, I have this beautiful plant with 2 chicks, but I believe I have either over watered or not enough light or maybe both.

Those are some serious etiolated plants , the leaves are bent backwards, the plant overall stretches vertically, the leaves look pale towards white. In this case no matter the watering pattern (let's say too much or too little) the plant does not get enough light to keep a nice rosette shape and it is etiolated.
You need to move the plants in a place where they can get some direct sun, these plants to show their true colors (figuratively and literally) must be outdoors.
If you put them now in direct sun they will burn, so you must do that gradually over a couple of weeks.

Farrah76 said:


I don't know what to do, I have this beautiful plant with 2 chicks, but I believe I have either over watered or not enough light or maybe both.

Are they indoors? They look like they are indoors and want to go outside. Just guessing. But they much prefer to be outdoors with natural light. Although greenhouses can work pretty good too.

I agree with both PaleoTemp and tcstoehr.

Nice to meet you Farrah76, and a big to NGA.
We can help you to returning your semp to a healthy state. Where do you live? What type of climate do you have?
At this point your sweet semp doesn't look like is have a water issue, but definitely is suffering from an insufficient source of sunlight. Sempervivum are cold hardy plants that do not like being indoors.