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How to Make Super-Mini Bonsai

Published on January 13, 2020Last updated October 23, 2021 ♛ By Melissa J. Will

This post contains affiliate links.
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Love bonsai gardening? How about super-mini bonsai just a few inches tall? It’s the charm of bonsai crossed with a love of miniature gardens. In the new book, Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai, author Terutoshi Iwai shows us how to raise plants from seed or cuttings to create charming, thimble-sized potted bonsai.

For more artful indoor gardening, also see Make a Moss Bonsai.

Miniature bonsai plants.

Creating Super Mini Bonsai

Examples of miniature bonsai.
Super miniature bonsai and pruning scissors.

Images in this post are provided with permission from Tuttle Publishing who also provided a review copy of Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai by Terutoshi Iwai.

Bonsai Sizes

The ‘bon’ in bonsai refers to the pot, while the ‘sai’ character means plant. This shows the various size classifications.

Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai
  • Large Bonsai (DAIHIN) – 24-inches (60cm) and taller
  • Medium Bonsai (CHUHIN) – 8 to 24-inches (20 to 60cm) and taller
  • Small Bonsai (SHOUHIN) – less than 8-inches (20cm) tall
    • Mini Bonsai – less than 4-inches (10cm) tall
    • Super-Mini Bonsai – about an inch (3cm), give or take, in height

How Long Does it Take to Grow a Mini Bonsai Tree?

Super mini bonsai plant on a finger tip.

Bonsai that straddle the small-to-miniature category reach about 8 inches (20cm) in height and can take up to 20 years to fully mature.

The term “miniature bonsai” generally refers to bonsai small enough to be lifted or moved with one hand.

The term “super-mini bonsai” refers to the smallest plants in the miniature bonsai category; of these, the smallest plants fit on a fingertip and grow in a pot no larger than a thimble.

While cultivating bonsai is a slow process, super-mini bonsai can be enjoyed as soon as they’re potted—and these plants are simply and satisfying to grow and to pot.

Miniature Bonsai Book

Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai

Miniature Bonsai: The Complete Guide to Super-Mini Bonsai
Terutoshi Iwai 

Tips in the book include help for growing miniature

  • Flowering trees
  • Pines
  • Maples
  • Oaks
  • Junipers

Learn how to

  • Select plants that thrive as mini bonsai
  • Work with seeds and small cuttings
  • Match the right plant to the right pot
  • Buy and prepare growing medium
  • Maintain and drain your miniature bonsai
  • Display and enjoy your prized bonsai plants

If you enjoy quiet, small-size garden projects, this could be your new mini thing.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

Examples of miniature bonsai.
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Melissa J. Will - Empress of DirtWelcome!
I’m Melissa J. Will a.k.a. the Empress of Dirt (Ontario, Canada).
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