Gardening, Pre-Grafted Fruit Tree

QUESTION: May I plant a fruit tree that I purchased from a nursery if it was grafted together with a tree from another species?

ANSWER: The Torah prohibition of Harkavah includes both grafting a vegetable plant together with a tree and grafting different species of fruit trees together. If the trees are of the same species, there is no prohibition of Harkavah. This prohibition applies even outside of Israelץ.

Not only may one not do the actual act of grafting, one may not even replant a tree that has been grafted. Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 295:7) writes that even if one planted such a tree, they would be required to uproot it. However, Aruch Hashulchan (Yoreh De’ah 295:16-18) explains that the requirement to uproot such a tree is only if it was recently planted, before it has begun to root. Therefore, if one purchases land that already has such trees growing in it, they would not be required to cut them down (See also Pischei Teshuva Y.D. 295:4). Furthermore, cutting down a fruit tree when there is no obligation to cut it down is itself a violation of bal tashchis (unnecessary destruction).

The exact definition according to halacha of what is considered to be the same species is not always clear. All apple trees are considered one species, but apple trees and pear trees are considered two different species. Rama (Yoreh De’ah 295:6) writes that since most people are not proficient in determining which varieties of trees are considered to be of the same species, unless it is abundantly clear, one should avoid grafting together different varieties of trees.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.