Planting seeds from fruits or vegetables with kedushat shevi'it
Question
Now that shemitah is over, may I extract seeds from produce with kedushat shevi'it and plant them?
Answer
The answer depends on whether the seeds from holy fruits or vegetables are edible and eaten on their own.
If the seeds are not edible, they do not have kedushah and they may be sown. The plants that sprout will not have kedushah either. Examples include citruses, avocado, mango, peach, and plum.
What about seeds eaten together with the fruit?
Examples include grape seeds and pomegranate seeds (the white, hard part not the fruity flesh).
While these are often eaten together with the fruit, in Israel no one sits and munches on a bag of grape seeds (and the like). For this reason, these seeds, too, do not have kedushah and may be sown.
If the seeds are edible and eaten on their own (ex: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds), they have kedushah and may not be sown.
This is due to the hefsed prohibition: If you plant the seed, you are directly destroying it and making it inedible.
Bediavad, if someone planted an edible seed with kedushah, we may eat the ensuing fruit or vegetable and it does not have kedushah.