Sempervivum sprouting but not to make a flower. Why is that and how to do something about it?

Question

My Sempervivum (actually a good number of my little friends) show the behaviour in the attached picture.

I take samples of these plants from my outside garden where they thrive and I'd like them to grow beautiful inside, in pots, where I can better tend to them and maybe use them as decorations. However, even after a long time, they either won't grow in size, or they'll sprout tall. From my experience of this variety of semperviva (they are from the Mediterranean), this sprout is not a flower.

At first, the leaves will curl downwards, then the center rises until it is grown up to a certain size, then is stops growing at all and remains in this status for a long time.

I don't know what to do about it, nor what caused it in the first place. Any help is accepted.

In the future, I'd like to avoid this, and, if possible, revert them to a more "appropriate" shape.

Answer 1

Many plants will pause before flowering if they do not have enough resources to complete the flowering, seed production and pups or offshoots. The pause could well be the plant manufacturing more food internally through photosynthesis. Once this is complete and the plant is ready to flower, the terminal bud will suddenly start to expand and bulk up, producing a complex flower head and begin its seed production phase. Once seed is forming the pups will appear at the base; the central part dies and dries out, the pups expand into new plants. Probably just patience required at this point, keep an eye on the terminal bud and watch for production of side pups at the base.