Authored by George Haas

On August 24, 2026, Pedro Morales joined me at my home for the afternoon to help with development of a large Ficus bonsai.

Pedro is a tropical bonsai expert from Puerto Rico. Pedro is one of the most influential tropical bonsai masters in the world, known especially for his work in Puerto Rico and across Latin America. Born 1961 in Chicago, he is a Puerto Rican bonsai artist, teacher, exhibitor, and founder of Futago Bonsai, one of the most important tropical bonsai schools in Latin America. His work is widely recognized for elevating tropical species to world class bonsai standards.

Ficus (Ficus retusa) is a species of evergreen woody plant in the Fig genus. The tree is native to Borneo, Java, and Peninsular Malaysia.

I acquired the tree in May 2007 from Steve Faulk’s demonstration hosted by the East Bay Bonsai Society. From looking at the base, it appears to have been three rooted specimens that fused together forming the single base. Steve purchased the tree in Miami, Florida. When alive, Steve loved working with tropical bonsai.

The first priority action taken was for Pedro and me to fully defoliate the bonsai tree. This allowed to really see the bonsai structure. He only then began to prune out unwanted branches. Once that was done, Pedro wired the primary, secondary and twig branches.

Pedro had taken photographs of the Ficus bonsai, depicting the front, left side, back, and right side. A day later, he provided edited photographs of the tree. In addition, Pedro Morales provided a future vision image he created using artificial intelligence Chatbot app. The future vision gives information on further development over a period of two years from now.

There are a number of bonsai related artificial intelligence apps under development. None are perfect, but the work continues. Using other AI app can achieve quite different results.

We are incredibly lucky to have many qualified bonsai instructors in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. They provide a variety of services, including development of bonsai and guidance of future growth expectations. However, it can be beneficial to see an image of the tree’s future. AI can allow for conventional styles, pot selection, and more.