Bill Whitman in Florida

[buddy roo]

Hi All, going way back about 30 years ago, there was a Bill Whitman that had a nursery that shipped tropical fruit trees to Ca.  to include jaboticaba and only labeled as jaboticaba, does anyone have any idea what he was selling at the time??       Regards    Patrick

[Cookie Monster]

Don't think he had a nursery. He was a well known pioneer in introducing rare fruits into florida.

[buddy roo]

Don't think he had a nursery. He was a well known pioneer in introducing rare fruits into florida.

Hi Jeff, he used to ship plants to a nursery here"pacific tree farms" once a year a truck load. at least that is what i am being told by the person who was the manager at the time.           Regards    Patrick

[Finca La Isla]

At one time his son, Chris Whitman, had a nursery in FL.

[MameyDisco]

At one time his son, Chris Whitman, had a nursery in FL.

Correct it was his son Chris. It was located south of Miami heading towards the Redland / Homestead area.

Check out this cool flyer I stumbled upon. 

Hi All, going way back about 30 years ago, there was a Bill Whitman that had a nursery that shipped tropical fruit trees to Ca.  to include jaboticaba and only labeled as jaboticaba, does anyone have any idea what he was selling at the time??       Regards    Patrick

If it’s the same Jaboticaba that William “Bill” Whitman had labeled in his personal catalog in his book, it’s either a Plinia cauliflora or Myrciaria jaboticaba, both show Grafted, no further info found aside from a comment I read in one The Rare Fruit Council International (RFCI) Miami, Tropical Fruit News magazines from the 90s, in which he calls it a (Jumbo). Saw that this week...

It would be hard to determine the exact one they were selling and where they were propagating from. I also checked a few RFCI Yearbooks & Fruit Lists...everything in the 1970s / 1980s doesn’t list a cultivar. Hope this helps.

Do you have a 30 year old specimen purchased from Whitman? Mind sharing some photos?

[buddy roo]

At one time his son, Chris Whitman, had a nursery in FL.

Correct it was his son Chris. It was located south of Miami heading towards the Redland / Homestead area.

Check out this cool flyer I stumbled upon. 

Hi All, going way back about 30 years ago, there was a Bill Whitman that had a nursery that shipped tropical fruit trees to Ca.  to include jaboticaba and only labeled as jaboticaba, does anyone have any idea what he was selling at the time??       Regards    Patrick

If it’s the same Jaboticaba that William “Bill” Whitman had labeled in his personal catalog in his book, it’s either a Plinia cauliflora or Myrciaria jaboticaba, both show Grafted, no further info found aside from a comment I read in one The Rare Fruit Council International (RFCI) Miami, Tropical Fruit News magazines from the 90s, in which he calls it a (Jumbo). Saw that this week...

It would be hard to determine the exact one they were selling and where they were propagating from. I also checked a few RFCI Yearbooks & Fruit Lists...everything in the 1970s / 1980s doesn’t list a cultivar. Hope this helps.

Do you have a 30 year old specimen purchased from Whitman? Mind sharing some photos? Hi Mamey, and thank you, it is not my tree but a friends tree , i will get some photos and send you.     Regards    Patrick

[Cookie Monster]

Interesting info. I would have liked to have visted the nursery .

At one time his son, Chris Whitman, had a nursery in FL.

Correct it was his son Chris. It was located south of Miami heading towards the Redland / Homestead area.

Check out this cool flyer I stumbled upon. 

Hi All, going way back about 30 years ago, there was a Bill Whitman that had a nursery that shipped tropical fruit trees to Ca.  to include jaboticaba and only labeled as jaboticaba, does anyone have any idea what he was selling at the time??       Regards    Patrick

If it’s the same Jaboticaba that William “Bill” Whitman had labeled in his personal catalog in his book, it’s either a Plinia cauliflora or Myrciaria jaboticaba, both show Grafted, no further info found aside from a comment I read in one The Rare Fruit Council International (RFCI) Miami, Tropical Fruit News magazines from the 90s, in which he calls it a (Jumbo). Saw that this week...

It would be hard to determine the exact one they were selling and where they were propagating from. I also checked a few RFCI Yearbooks & Fruit Lists...everything in the 1970s / 1980s doesn’t list a cultivar. Hope this helps.

Do you have a 30 year old specimen purchased from Whitman? Mind sharing some photos?

[Alejandro45]

Yep in the book his son had a place for koala longans and it got flooded during Andrew. Right off silver palm drive in Princeton I believe.

[MameyDisco]

Yep in the book his son had a place for koala longans and it got flooded during Andrew. Right off silver palm drive in Princeton I believe.

The Dimocarpus longan ‘Kohala’ is the variety we all know very well, we thank William “Bill” Whitman for this introduction to Florida. To note, since you mentioned the flood after hurricane Andrew, the grove survived. Aside from 500 acres of longan being planted in Homestead, all airlayered from Bill Whitman’s 1 tree, his son’s grove was also sourced from airlayers from this specimen.

I invite anyone to celebrate the longan at the Fruit & Spice Park in Homestead’s Redland, on JUNE 7th The Rare Fruit Council International (RFCI) Miami will be celebrating BILL WHITMAN DAY, see official Miami-Dade County Proclamtion below! Bill planted a ‘Kohala’ longan to commemorate his efforts on creating a new agricultural industry in Florida. We owe a lot to him for his dedication and the inspiration he has provoked.