It isn't getting enough light - leaves should not be pointing down. Rosette is opening too much, trying to get more light. It shouldn't be so tall either, rather squat.

You may be overwatering, or could be thirsty. It is alpine succulent, hardy, and best when grown outdoors. Soil you potted it in looks 'rich' - what is in it?

These are also semps:

Hi Rina,

i did have a feeling it wasn't getting enough sun, but I give it as much as I can!! I live in Sydney Australia, and we get a lot of rain, often unpredictably, so I have to keep my succulents indoors. They're in an east facing window, and get around 3 hours of direct sunlight, and when there's no forecast of rain I take them outside and they're in the sun for an extra 3-4 hours or so.

I was given the succulent by a friend, and because it came "inverted" like that I assumed it was a variety of Semp that grew like that, but it makes sense that is only growing like that for lack of enough light! Do you think I should pull away the lower leaves? At the moment I made a mound with the soil to reach the roots, but maybe if I remove the lower leaves I could plant it flat and that wouldn't encourage it to grow in its more natural shape?

I don't think I'm overwatering, I've only watered it twice in the last 3 weeks. The soil is cactus/succulent soil from my local hardware store, mixed with perlite, because I haven't been able to get any pumice to mix it with instead! So it could be thirsty I guess?

thanks for your help!

They should be grown in a porous, fast-draining mix, outdoors in the sun, exposed to rain.

Josh

Caitlin

I do not have pumice either, and use lots of perlite - you have to do with what you can get! There is nothing wrong with perlite, except some ppl do not like how light it is and eventually migrates toward top. But I don't have a problem with it, usually use some grit a topdressing to keep perlite in & down. What I would recommend is to sift it - there is usually some dust. Ordinary kitchen sieve is enough, and do not breathe the dust. Use dust ask, or even some hanky :)

I grow many in ground and in containers. As Josh said above - same porous mix as for any succulents is the best. If your soil retains water and it rains, drainage is not enough. In gravely mix, excess water will drain out fast. If you can sift the perlite and maybe find some grit (I use chicken grit, no shells), mix these 2 with smaller amount of C&S soil and it would be better. I would use maybe max 20-25% C&S soil, rest equal amounts of perlite and grit. If you pot tit into mix like that, they will be OK even in the rain. As I mentioned, they are hardy and should overwinter outdoors - I am in much colder climate, we get lots of snow and they make it thru the winter. They may not like much very high temps - how hot does it get in Sydney?

You could take off some of the lowest leaves, plant will not die :) But unless it gets more light, it will keep growing same/similar. Few hrs of indoor light is generally not enough for most of the succulents, and these are alpine plants, used to grow in very lean soil, on and between rocks, quite exposed to sun, wind, rain and snow.

You want to get it healthy since these are monocarpic plants: when rosette blooms, that one dies after blooming. In the meantime, it should have lots of 'chicks' to replace itself (as in 2nd pic I posted). So you need to get some chicks in case it decides to bloom :)

I worry about keeping my succulents outdoors because of the amount of rain sydney gets- when it rains it really pours!! It's usually around 30°C in summer, but we're going into winter now, so it's much cooler, between 12-20°C most days.

i do think the soil drains well, because water goes straight through the drainage holes to the little tray I keep it in, and it's in a terracotta pot so the plants aren't sitting in water when I water them.

So should I move my semp (and maybe my other succulents?) outside? I can't plant them in the ground, as my backyard is tiled.

next time I repot I'll try to mix in extra grit or gravel, for the moment it's in about 50/50 C&S and perlite.

my other succulents and cacti seem to do well with the amount of sun they get, and I also take them outside whenever I can!

to give an idea of how much rain we get, in March we had 23 days of rain, which also means there weren't many days with lots of sun, so that probably hasn't help my little semp!