Kotzer

From Halachipedia

Uprooting or severing a plant

  1. Uprooting or severing any part of a living plant is forbidden on Shabbat under the category of Kotzer (Harvesting). [1]
  2. It is forbidden to break a branch off a tree, remove a leave, pick a fruit or flower from a tree on Shabbat. [2]

Fruit

  1. Picking a fruit on Shabbat is forbidden. [3] However, one may remove a fruit from a branch which was detached from the tree from before Shabbat. [4]
  2. It is forbidden to detach fruit whether it is fully ripened or shriveled. [5]
  3. It is forbidden to pick mushrooms or remove moss from a rock it is growing on. [6]

Vegetables and seeds

  1. One may not remove bean sprouts from the moist environment of the container if it has struck root. Therefore, one should make sure to remove the

sprouts from the jar from before Shabbat. [7]

  1. However, if one left vegetables on a damp floor and they sprouted (which is common in onions and potatoes) one may pick up the vegetables (as long as it is not Muktzeh, however, raw potatoes are Muktzeh). Additionally, one may cut off these sprouts on Shabbat (but one should be beware not to violate Borer and so one should cut off the sprout with a part of the bulb). However, if vegetables sprouted in a dirt floor one would not be allowed to removed them. [8]
  2. One may carry seeds (that are not Muktzeh) that did not begin to sprout across a lawn, however, once the seeds began to sprout one may not carry it across the lawn. [9]
  3. If a seed fell on the ground one may pick it up if it has remained on the soil for less than 2 or 3 days and according to some views it also not have been covered with dirt for growing purposes. [10]

References

  1. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 281), Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 26:10
  2. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 281), Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 26:10
  3. S”A 336:12
  4. Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 26:10 quoting Rama 336:8, Biur Halacha 336:8 D"H SheNishpach writes that one shouldn't remove a fruit unless the branch is completely detached from the tree. Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata (chap 26 note 38) quotes a dispute between the Machsit HaShekel and Pri Megadim whether one is allowed to remove leaves from a branch that was detached from the tree from before Shabbat.
  5. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 289)
  6. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 283), Shemirat Shabbat KeHilchata 26:10
  7. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 283-4)
  8. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 285-7)
  9. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 288)
  10. 39 Melachos (Rabbi Ribiat, vol 2, pg 288-9)