I live in NY and want to plant fruit (grapes). Does the prohibition of orlah (waiting 3 years) apply to me?
Furthermore, if I can buy a 3 yr old fruit plant and then plant it, will I still need to wait?
see here: http://www.willisorchards.com/product/Champanel+Grape+Vine?category=260
Answer:
A rabbinic prohibition of orlah applies even outside the Land of Israel, and one must therefore until the orlah years are up.
Concerning buying a three-year-old plant, the answer depends on how the plant is transferred. If it is transferred with a clod of earth, so that the plant can continue to live for a certain amount of time without being re-planted, you would not have to start the count again. If it is transferred without a clod of earth, the count of three years would begin anew.
Sources:
Yoreh De’ah 294; the time for which the plant must be able to survive in the clod of earth is a subject of dispute, and it may be up to 14 days. For outside of Israel, however, there is no need to be this stringent, and the ability to survive for a short time is sufficient. See Rashba 3:235; Pischei Teshuva, 294; Ne’os Desheh 32; Mishpat Kohen 8; see a discussion of the issue in Kol Torah, 5693; Tzitz Eliezer 1:19; Chazon Ish 2:10-12.
