Tight spaces

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Looong time lurker, first time poster here. A little backstory, I've been "doing bonsai" now for a couple years after getting my introduction and crash course into it after happening across a job at a local bonsai nursery. After that, you know the deal with the bug: my gifted sickly portulacaria quickly turned into probably 40 trees scattered about both inside and outside (shout out to a very supportive partner who has nothing but good things to say when i come home with another tree). So as weather warms up and i start brainstorming how i fit all my tropicals out on the benches, it got me thinking. As someone on the younger side of the spectrum of bonsai hobbyists, i can't be the only one with limited space due to being at a rental.

Nowadays when it's rare to find a rental that's affordable, let alone one that has an outdoor space in general, I was lucky enough to get into a place that has both a small front porch area as well as a small backyard patio (all i had to do was cram my car full of trees and move across the country). Though it's disappointing to be a younger practitioner in a hobby where workshops cost hundreds, and quality pre-bonsai grower material costs just as much (I've seen some embarassing prices since coming out to the west coast), I'm more than happy to fiddle around with my humble collection.

I'll stop with my youngster ranting now and get to the tree pictures, it's what we're all here for anyways right? I'd love to see what others are doing with their small rental spaces!

*feel free to share any thoughts, questions, concerns, or critiques on anything you see!*

 

[Calnicky]

I did bonsai on a large condo deck for a while. It was only eastern facing, so I don't think anything was getting enough sun and condo rules required saucers under everything to catch the water (and yes, they did inspections). After 5 years, I moved out to a small country town on 1/3 acre. The trees got more sunlight and their health improved markedly (also, no more soaking their feet in a saucer of water). So I think getting the right amount of light is a huge, limiting factor in many urban settings.

But was soooo nice to be 15 minutes away from the club meetings!!! I still go, but it's 1.5 hours travel

 

[JackHammer]

I have about as much space as you in my greenhouse... my greenhouse is actually a little too large (10×16 I think) if there is such a thing... You can get those big commercial style wire racks that let you stack 6 ft. high. By managing my space better, I am able to do more with less.

 

[IckyGuyBonsai]

Light has definitely been the biggest issue since my building faces north south, but the building itself blocks a lot of light during the summer in the front, and a large maple blocks everything but a bit of morning/evening sun in the back where everything's currently set up. So far since the maple hasn't leafed out, i still get decent light (pnw weather permitting). Last summer i had most things up front, but I'm hoping to be get away with leaving some more shade tolerant species in the back so i can be sure that all my sun loving stuff can fit up front.

My problem with building vertically is only the topmost shelves get prime sunlight, while everything lower progressively gets less. Not to mention the shuffle if the top sunny plants need water before the lower shaded ones. Either way though, rental management has some rules about how high i can build, can't have any kind of "privacy barriers" between units in the back, etc.

Here's a picture of the setup in the front in about the most sun that it gets during the summer.