Good day. As shown in the photograph, I am using a bathroom that has been gutted of everything but the tub, and is my first attempt at indoor grow. I am toying with the idea of "hedging" my plants. In other words, making them grow horizontally instead of vertically. In my mind, I would be able to get an eight foot plant to maintain a three foot height. My philosophy is that during the flowering stage, the lower areas of the plant would receive the same amount of light as the upper areas, as the plants are now growing horizontally. Any thoughts? Also, I do not have a means of refreshing air to the room and have opted to use a Co2 generator. opinions?
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Heirloom Tomato plants are accompanying these starters until the weather warms.
"Hedging"... You are probably referring two a combination of two methods. Topping/Pruning and Low Stress Training.
Research both Topping and LST and you will get a wealth of experience and knowledge from those who have come before you. The idea you have is fantastic, but it is not novel or new (not that you said they were), and you can learn quite a bit about them as they relate to cannabis with a minimal amount of research.
You will still need to cool the room, and the CO2 generator is fine as long as you can monitor the concentration of CO2 ppm in the air. CO2 is usually the last thing to incorporate into a grow room, once temperature and humidity can be completely controlled. An environmental controller is a pretty important part of that system. With the cost of one versus the other, a complete CO2 system is $500 to $800 depending on how you do it. Water cooled CO2 burners can be even more.
Something you might want to consider is a portable AC system. You would need to make some modifications to the bathroom door. Actually, you can get a new door from the hardware store for under $30 that you can cut some holes in for the ducting. One way or another you will probably wind up needing to cool that room somehow and I think this might be the best option for the situation if you go with a CO2 system.
Also, I prefer day light spectrum CFL bulbs. The 2700K bulbs provide very little far red energy which the plant can use. Most of the light they produce is too "orange/yellow." They work okay, but you can get much more photosynthesis accomplished with 5000K to 6500K color temperature bulbs. At least have a mixture.
I see those two HPS systems, so you probably (hopefully) have some 2100K HPS bulbs in those (or even better: Phillips TruColor Ceramic Metal Halides). Being that you are already pushing so much red light I'd suggest adding a little blue to balance the spectrum. Also, most of your bulbs look to be 20ish wattages, and at that wattage the bulbs need to be within 3 inches from the plant (ideally within 2 inches) to get enough energy from the bulbs. To understand that better do a little research on the "Rule/Law of squares." As the distance increases the energy is spread over more and more space. At more than a few inches those lumens don't have the energy to power photosynthetic action.
Other than that it looks cool. I'm surprised your bathroom doesn't at least have a vent fan... Maybe you could install one... Panasonic makes a whisper quiet bathroom ventilation fan you can get at Home DePot for about $150 that pushes a couple hundred CFM. Probably worth it if you are having a difficult time controlling the environment in there.
Also... Just be mindful of mold. You might want to make sure you wash all the nooks and crannies in there with a mild bleach solution to remove and kill as many mold spores as you can from the room.
Good luck!
