WHITMAN NURSERIES SUPPLIES TREES FOR NYC
Based on the north fork of Long Island’s east end, Whitman Nurseries, Inc. is the sole supplier of trees for an ongoing reforestation initiative in New York City known as “MillionTreesNYC.”
With 100 acres under cultivation, Whitman’s owner, John Sipala, focuses on growing patented tree species including oaks and maples for urban environments throughout the city’s five boroughs. The root systems are bred to tolerate sidewalks and curbs.
The goal of planting a million trees was reached in 2015, but Sipala has continued to supply saplings to New York City as the program continues. Currently, the Jamesport, N.Y., nursery supplies up to 13,000 trees annually for the city’s ongoing street tree planting program.
The New York Department of Parks & Recreation no longer relies on tree-planting contractors to supply caliper trees. Instead, the department manages separate contracts directly with tree nurseries. City inspectors travel to Jamesport on a regular basis to check the trees and make sure they are ready for planting. Sipala hires local truckers to haul the trees to their final destinations.
“I’m the only grower left; the other one dropped out of the program this spring,” Sipala says. “I’ve been doing this for 16 years, and it’ll be almost 20 years by the time the second contract is complete.”
Sipala hails from two generations of Long Island farmers on both sides of his family. His grandfather was a produce farmer in Valley Stream, New York. After Sipala’s father returned from serving in World War II, he landed his first landscape contracts by working for Bill Levitt, when construction of Levittown commenced in 1949.
The business began in 1951 as a small retail garden center on Route 110 in Melville. During that time,
Sipala’s dad bought a farm on Route 110 in Huntington, next to the former home of poet Walt Whitman, from which the nursery derives its name. Another move followed to Dix Hills, and then later Eastport before eventually settling in Jamesport.
“The whole time our primary focus has been growing trees, not just shrubs, but mainly trees,” Sipala said. “We purchased this farm in 1972, and I learned to drive a tractor here. We were digging trees by hand at that time. In 1976, we started using a mechanized tree spade mounted on a bulldozer.”
Efficient operation
Today, Whitman’s crews harvest trees using a tree spade mounted to Cat® Skid Steer and Compact Track Loaders.
“Harvesting is the main thing we use the machines for,” Sipala says. “All of my machines are retrofitted for tree spade digging. We’re capable of digging trees out of the ground and setting them into a basket, one every 40 to 50 seconds. And that’s when things really took off for us because we never thought we could achieve that level of productivity. So that enabled us to plant more and harvest more in order to take on a contract of this size.
“While 100 acres might seem like a lot, there are other nurseries that are much larger than mine. But they’re not getting the productivity per acre that we are thanks to the fact that we can harvest so quickly, and New York City takes all of the trees that we grow.”
With a crew of seven, Whitman Nurseries keeps churning out trees at a rapid pace by performing its own maintenance and having machines stationed at various intervals around the farm to increase efficiency. The grower has a fleet of nine Cat machines, including four skid steers and three compact track loaders. Downtime is rare, but when it occurs, there’s another Cat machine standing by to take its place.
“I can’t afford a breakdown in the middle of the day,” Sipala says. “So if a hydraulic line lets go in the middle of the day, my operator won’t even tell me it broke. I see the machine come in from the field, and then I see another machine go back out. So that within 10 or 15 minutes, the next tree is coming out of the ground. And that’s the system here. The guys punch in at 6:55 a.m., and by 7:05 the first tree is going into the basket. And it stays that way for the rest of the day.
“We can’t afford downtime,” he says. “That’s why I prefer having a backup machine at the ready to keep things moving.”
When Whitman’s encounters an issue that is beyond the capabilities of its maintenance crew, Sipala takes the machine to his Cat dealer, H.O. Penn in Holtsville.
“If a machine has to be hooked up to a computer to analyze it, or if it’s a hydraulic issue and we just can’t seem to pinpoint it, we’ll bring it to them to find the problem,” he says. “All the guys there know me, and they’re really good and very helpful. They understand that when we’re in our busy season they need to help us right away, and they do.”
Compact precision
Sipala’s first Cat machine was a 262B Skid Steer that he acquired in 2000. Both he and his equipment operators appreciate the evolution in cab comfort and continual upgrades on his newer Cat compact machines.
“If you got into a cab 23 years ago like I did and get into a cab today, it’s night and day,” he says. “It’s ergonomic and comfortable. The machine itself is way more responsive when we need precision maneuvers to align the tree spade as it goes into the ground. If that tree isn’t directly in the center of the spade, it could get rejected by the inspectors. When you’re trying to dig a tree every 45 or 50 seconds, you want to line it up as quickly as possible. And the ability of our Cat machines to perform this precise maneuver is not matched by any other machine I’ve ever been on.”
Sipala also appreciates the speed-sensitive ride control capabilities of Cat Skid Steer and Compact Track Loaders.
Because the ride control system is truly speed-sensitive, all the operator needs to do is turn it on by using the switch on the joystick console. When the system reaches activation speed, it will automatically engage, providing maximum material retention and operator comfort. When it drops down to deactivation speed, the system turns itself off, providing maximum digging performance and material placement.
WHITMAN NURSERIES
Location: Jamesport, NY
Employees: 7
Cat® equipment:
“I learned that we could decrease loading time by five to 10 percent because I could move quicker down the field and not worry about my trees getting bounced up and down and bouncing out of the bucket,” Sipala says. “It was a feature that my guys were not all that familiar with, so I showed everybody how to use it. It just increased the speed at which we could do things.”
Visibility equals safety
He also likes the rear-view backup camera in the cab.
“Visibility is very important,” he says. “Now an operator doesn’t have to wonder if there’s somebody standing behind them.”
“It’s one of the best innovations that Caterpillar has come up with.”
Sipala says his participation in the MillionTreesNYC program has enabled him to be profitable for 17 straight years, which is rare for a nursery.
“I’m not too sure if I will take another contract after this, but I will assist whoever does take the next contract,” he says. “But I’ll give them a hand because I think it’s a great program. I think it’s great for New York, and I would like to see it continue. What most people don’t realize is that New York City has more parks than Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles combined.”
Sipala likes the fact that he can travel to the city to see the fruits of his labor.
“I like to visit Park Slope in Brooklyn because some of the first trees we provided 12 years ago went into that area, and they’re quite large now. I like looking at them. You can see the trees are going to be there for future generations.”