Question:
Trees & other types of plants are called seedlings while they are still relatively small (usually not more than a few inches tall). Thinning seedlings is a common procedure whereby recently sprouted seeds that are deemed less likely to survive long term are removed from the bunch to avoid overcrowding those seedlings more likely to survive long term. I have around two dozen Esrogim seedlings in one flower pot. I would like to thin them out as they are overcrowding one another. But just because the weaker ones are less likely to survive long term, to eventually mature & produce fruit, doesn’t mean some of them won’t survive to one day produce fruit. However, as they are being cultivated in Canada, where, on their own, they wouldn’t likely ever produce fruit, can I thin them out? The way I’m growing them now, with temperatures in the low 70’s & not nearly as much light as they would receive in their natural habitat, does the shayla even begin? Also, does it help that they are not yet mature enough to produce fruit, and won’t be for many years to come? In other words, is the issur only on a tree that is mature enough to bear fruit (regardless if right now it isn’t bearing fruit because it’s the rainy season? but if it were summer, it would produce fruit, as it did last summer, for example). Does it help that they are being grown in a flower pot, and not in the ground?
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Answer:
Thank you for your question
It is allowed.
All the best
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