Grow Tents — 80x60

Eighty by sixty centimetres sounds like a small grow tent and is not. At forty centimetres tall this is a propagator: a wide, low space for standing many cuttings or seedlings side by side, on a worktop or a shelf rather than on the floor.

The height decides everything

Forty centimetres will not take a grow light at the distance it needs, nor a plant you carry to harvest. What it will take is a flat LED bar or a fluorescent fixture right above the tray, and that is exactly what cuttings want: plenty of light close to the leaf, without heat that dries them out.

Wide rather than tall

Where the 120x40 finds its capacity in height, this size finds it in width. Half a square metre of trays side by side is a lot of cuttings at once, and you can reach every one without moving anything. In practice that matters more than it sounds, because cuttings want checking daily.

Where this stands

On a worktop, a shelf or a table. This size is not meant for the floor, and that is why it exists alongside the ordinary tents: it fills space you already have rather than claiming floor. If you want somewhere for those same cuttings to grow on afterwards, 80x80 is the logical next step.

Humidity is the real subject here

A low, closed space holds moisture, and with cuttings that is the point: they have no roots yet and transpire through the leaf. So do not plan on serious extraction but on airing occasionally, and on a heating mat underneath if the room is cool, because substrate temperature counts for more here than air temperature.

Frequently asked questions

Can I finish a plant in here?
No. Forty centimetres is too low for a lamp at distance with a plant beneath it. This is a propagation space.

Which lamp fits in here?
Something flat that can hang close and gives little heat: fluorescent or an LED bar. A grow light meant for a tent is too strong and too warm.

Do I need extraction?
Barely. With cuttings you want to hold moisture in. You air it by hand or with a small fan, not with an extraction system.