Sempervivums are hardy succulents and best if grown outdoors, year-round. They can grow in ground or in containers. If you do not have garden-patio-balcony or a window with a window box, I guess they have to be indoors. Not the best for them.

It looks to me that they are etiolating - not enough light. Try to leave lights on for 12 - 14hrs and see if that helps. Big rosette is starting to etiolate too. And possibly changing color to much lighter than they should be.

There is no need to take 'chicks' away since that is how these plants grow; and usually look best if left in a big clump. I would rather pot them into bigger pot than keep separating them - but that is up to you. These are in containers, but spend whole year outside (I have some in ground too):

Yea I'd agree on not enough light. Over the winter I was leaving my grow light on 16hrs a day and still got some etiolation on plants that weren't close enough to it.

Thanks Rina. I can put them outside on the deck where they will get a lot of full sun. Then take them in through winter.

My intent was to put them in a wider planter so they could spread but am having difficulty finding unglazed terracotta planters that aren't ridiculously expensive. I did want to keep the chicks together but they fell off while I was cleaning the peat off the roots.

Yours are beautiful! Are they in plastic pots? They won't smother in the outside heat and humidity? It would be lot easier for me to get larger shallow plastic planters.

Wil, thanks for your input, you bring up another question I have. I have the grow lights about 10" above the leaves. Is that too far?

Granny, just reminding you what Rina said: Sempervivums are hardy succulents and best if grown outdoors, year-round. You don't need to take them in wintertime.

They can be in plastic, or terracotta or, wood containers...and they look great in ground. In photo I posted, 2 pots are terracotta and 2 are plastic (really inexpensive plastic tubs - under $10).

Here are some in ground - rather growing over and around and in-between the rocks, as robin mentioned...growing in very little or even no soil:

Oh! I can leave them out through winter! That went right over my head, sorry.

Actually, my dil is working on some small rock garden areas she began this Spring. I'm disabled so she does all the outside gardening. I'll give them to her so she can plant them there. We are expecting tempts over 90F the next four days or so. Do we need to wait till it's back in the 80's or will they acclimate that fast?

All the photos are gorgeous!

I'm not sure what your climate zone is, grannymarie, but terracotta will often break in freezing weather. You called them Echeveria but as others pointed out these are Sempervivum. I agree that they grow best if outside and in the ground. Actually they seem to grow poorly and struggle if kept indoors during winter. Really, they are outside plants.

I'm glad I checked here and got the correct info. Thanks Poly. I appreciate it. There's so much misleading info out there. I'm in Zone 6 so get below freezing winter temps.

Sempervivums are hardy, reportedly to z4 and some even lower. As long as they have good drainage, but that goes for all succulents.

Rrockery will be great for them. As long as your daughter doesn't pack it tightly with lots of water-retaining soil :) - like heavy clay! As already suggested by few, they need minimal soil and as you can see, they will grow over the rocks. It is great to grow them in rockeries; they get somehow elevated when planted between rocks. That is great for drainage.

One thing to remember: when mature, they may bloom. But they are monocarpic = after blooms are spent, blooming rosette dies. But that is normal, and that is why they produce so many chicks - to replace themselves. Blooms are nice too, flower stalk grows from center, gets taller, and then blooms open on the top.

There are many other hardy succulents - here are just few I grow in colder zone than yours. 2 on top are bit smaller, plat on bottom left can get bigger/spread more, and bottom right grows little taller:

Thanks Rina, I will let my daughter-in-law know not to pack them in tight. I don't know what kind of medium is there except that it's not a rich heavy soil. We'll give it a go and see what happens. Our local garden nursery always has succulents so if its a success I'll get a few more.

They don't need rich soil either; in fact, most succulent don't. Just as you are using BJ mix; it has some bark, but mostly inorganic ingredients (I think...I do not buy it :)

If your daughter can use some grit, that would be just great. I can get small gravel in 50lb bags for $5 if I want to (from garden supplies store, where they sell soil and all kinds of gravel and rocks). But you may not need to; existing soil may just work in that rockery. There is no need to spend extra $ unless absolutely necessary :)

Hope to see photos later on; in the meantime, you should put your pots with semps outside. Star in partial shade and leave them there for few days; moving slowly into more light. I would make sure they are acclimatized to the sunlight exposure they will be in when rock garden is ready, so they can be planted without any worries. Try to plant them on cloudy day if possible :)

Grannymarie - I'm fairly new to succulents (unlike Rina who has LOTS of experience) and last year I put a rock border around my deck. I bought several pots of Sempervivum and planted them among the rocks. I truly just moved some rocks, pulled them out of the pot, loosened the roots a little and let the dirt fall between the rocks where I was going to put them. I set them down on either the bare soil under the rocks, or on the dirt that fell from the roots, moved the rocks back to be around the plants and help support them - then left them alone. I watered them when I watered anything else that was outside. They all grew well and survived the winter just fine - even though we had 3 days straight of freezing rain in March. I only lost one and I'm pretty sure that was because my huge dog walked on it several different times.

I also had a couple in pots, but those didn't do as well, I realized my table actually holds about 1/4" of water, so even though the soil was well draining, the whole table was holding water under them. Lesson learned!

Rina, I figured we'd use the BJ mix I potted them in to add to the ground when my dil sets them in to give them a little help with drainage. I believe there is grit as well as small pea gravel in that space. Will also let her know to wait for a cloudy day which is foretasted for about two weeks from now. I will take photos once they are established and hopefully do well.

Will set the pots outside on the back deck now in partial shade to get them acclimated.

Pluto, your border sounds awesome and so easy! I will be holding my breath hoping mine will thrive and survive their first winter.

That makes sense. Thanks.

Lots of good discussion. Regarding your lights 10" appears to be too far away. It is possible to grow these very nicely under lights but as Rina mentions it's much easier just to put them outside.

The ones I have now grow happily on my roof. And some other hardy succulents from Rina up there with them all year long. =)

If you do end up with other succulents under your lights try moving them closer every couple days until the plants start responding to the light (typically color).

Thanks, I will keep that in mind but for these I will put them outside. If I get succulents for inside I will look for ones that don't need full sun and will do better under grow lights. :)

That's so cool!

Pluto

Looking great!

I don't believe longer leaves signal plant will bloom. I think they are growing :) One could make vague association that longer leaves = good growth, plant getting older = they bloom when mature...but that would mean all rosettes with longer leaves will bloom. I don't think so; but I never read anything regarding that and never noticed that on my plants. I guess the only way to know for sure is to make record of the plant and see when/if it blooms, if all long-leaved rosettes bloom...JMO! I need to pay much more attention to my Semps, lol.