Oscar,
I meant Bulala as a generic Filipino term for all of the Nephelium mutabile/philippinensis/ramboutan-ake(the one we're specifying as Pulasan or Kapulasan), but I see that can be kind of confusing. That said, I'll revise my earlier comment to say, Filipino farmers should look into growing Pulasan.  Maybe a superior tasting Bulala(native) will pop up someday.   

Mike,
It's interesting you brought up "regionally and culturally important", because I think that's the key to many Filipinos, but I see that changing too.  My aunt showed me her tree from Taiwan of a sweet seedless Mandarin they were able to buy in their small town, and I've seen Miracle fruit trees for sale too.

Berns, What a good idea.  I think they could bring back some good information on what's commercially lucrative in terms of in demand tropical fruit.  Please share the results of the trip.

I personally think Filipino farmers should be exploring more commercial production of lesser known fruits like Bulala(Pulasan), Alupag, and Litchi Chinensis philippinensis; and really taking Pili to the next level. 

Mike,
Are you familiar with Dizon Farms Nursery?  They sell Longkong trees, Wax Apple, etc.. and while I can't confirm they're the folks that own the orchards, the more interesting fruits sold at the large supermarkets are labeled "Dizon Farms". 

It occurs like that naturally too, without any cultivating.  I remember back in 2008 I was in the Philippines and the Basilica in my town has Mabolo trees lining the one side.  We got some fruit from it.  Then on the way back from town there was a house, and the man let us have his fruit.  The fruit from the trees in town were plump and red like in your photo, sweet and fragrant like a white peach, but dry and firm. The fruit from the man was flat like the small one in your photo and more orange than red. None of the fruits had seeds, neither the plump ones or flat ones. 

What does the Phet Pakchong taste like.. Adam, I've never known anyone so good at grafting, it's enjoyable just to see pictures of your grafting successes.

Congratulations on the site.  Love the shots of Rambutans. 
I can't believe it's been 10 years since gardenweb... I feel old.   

Oh man, I would've flipped s***.  Lol, a neighbor once took the Eggplants off my grandma's plant, she was so pissed she uprooted the whole plant and marched to her neighbors house, and threw it at their doorstep and in a loud voice said "You want it so bad, fine you can have all of it".  Now I wouldn't suggest you do that to your Loquat but the nerve of some people is audacious.  Some folks are neanderthals.  I say use a fruit net to ward off poachers, animal and human alike.

I wasn't wild about it either.  It reminds me of a kind of sweet potato so my suggestion would be anywhere you would use sweet potato but without the long cooking time.  Cut in chunks for Cobbler, used as a filling where you would use Adzuki paste, or filling for pies, as a previous poster mentioned.  I like the shakes idea too.   It's one of those fruits that makes me tired of eating it, literally, my will to eat it diminishes about 20 seconds into eating it.

Welcome, Jimmy.
You will find many folks in a similar situation, trying to push their zone limits, on this forum.  I'm up across the state line a few miles from a. mills and I often think to myself "there's gotta be some other folks growing tropicals", lol, and it's good to know there are.
I'm under a foot of snow too, but I don't have a sweet heated greenhouse like you.  My plants come in for the Winter and I keep them in plastic for moisture.  Your idea for a greenhouse is so simple yet effective, I'm learning something new.  I'd like to know what else's growing in that thing.  Can you tell us what materials you used as well. 

My sugar apples would lose their leaves too, and then regrow in the Spring until last year when they didn't ... I would suggest you keep a bag over them or spray water to keep the soil and branches moist, and even though they go dormant, take care of them as you would normally.

Jackfruitwhisperer, thanks for the compliments...they're a source of pride for me and a keepsake from when I turned into a huge tropical fruit fan(2002).
Overwintering my trees usually stresses them out, they drop most of their leaves in the process ... would you suggest waiting for them to grow their new leaves, and then pruning these new growths, or you mean prune the woody branches from previous growth.  I'm thinking I need to pull the entire root ball out then trim the roots a bit, and replace some soil.  It hasn't been transplanted since probably 2005. 

I agree.  Looks like Syzygium Malaccense, Malay Apple, but I'm wondering whether there's more variety than Malaccense on it's own, because it seems some are more bell shaped, like Mike mentioned, and some look more like avocados.  As it looks in your hand, a dead ringer for the fruits in the photo seen here, http://nipahutgardens.com/prodimages/malay.jpg
I think the species needs more classification, because I've noticed variations in Cuminii as well. 

Jackfruitwhisperer69:
I can't seem to find the memory card that has the images of the Guavas in bloom, but these were taken in September 2013 I believe.  Same large white flesh Guava.

In this image is one of the two surviving original seedlings germinated in 2002, the one in the green pot next to it germinated in 2003 from the same fruit.  It flowered as well in 2010.



In this image is the second of the two seedlings from 2002, it died back to the trunk in Winter of 2010.  It has since bounced back the best of all three.  Must be something to that advice about pruning. 


As you can see the tall one isn't as healthy, it just didn't bounce back last summer the way it has in the past.  It may need root trimming and new soil.


p.s. Murahilin: I've never posted images on here before and it's a breeze compared to GW, thank you.

I'd lovvvvvvve a fruiting Cacao.  We lived in the Philippines in the late 80s early 90s and my aunt and uncle had a Cacao plantation.  My aunt gifted my mom about a bushel of raw dried Cacao beans straight from the fruit and for the next 15 years whenever we wanted "cocoa" my mom would roast the beans in a cast iron skillet and grind them to make cocoa with milk and sugar.  It actually lasted for 15 years too. I always thought this was the real "cocoa" not the stuff out of packets .   I never knew that folks called it Cacao tea.   I'm gonna have to try growing a cacao soon.