Leviticus 19:23–25

Orlah: the first years of a fruit tree

What is written

23 “‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. For three years it shall be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be set-apart, for giving praise to Yahuah. 25 In the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, that it may yield its increase to you. I am Yahuah your Elohim.

Leviticus 19:23–25

The practical question

This one has to be settled before you plant, because it changes the whole timeline. A tree put in the ground this spring produces nothing you may eat for four seasons.

Practical questions that follow: does this apply outside the Land? Does it count from planting or from the first fruiting? What about grafted stock, or a tree already bearing when you bought the property? And how do you plan a food supply around a four-year delay?