(Mishnah): Bnos Shuach (white fig trees) - their sanctity of Sheviis comes in the second year (of the Shemita cycle, as the Chanatah - i.e the budding of those fruits would have occurred in the Shemita year), as they remain on the tree for three years.

(R. Yehuda): Persian figs - their sanctity of Sheviis comes in the year following Sheviis, as they grow every two years.

(Chachamim to R. Yehuda): They only applied this law to Bnos Shuach.

(Gemara) Question: What are Bnos Shuach? Pitriyah (white figs). Does it produce fruit each year (but it takes three years to ripen) or does it only produce fruit once every 3 years?

Answer: They produce every year, but the fruit only ripens after 3 years.

Question: But how does he know (which ones budded in the Shemita year)?

Answer (R. Yona): He ties a thread to them when they bud in Sheviis. Shmuel taught that he inserts toothpicks into them.

Baraisa (R. Shimon ben Gamliel): If a tree budded before 15th Shevat, it is tithed according to last year; after 15th Shevat, it is tithed according to the next year.

Baraisa (R. Nechemia): This only applies when two pickings are made per year, but if it is only picked once a year, such as olives, dates and carobs, even if it budded before that time, it's tithed according to the next year.

(R. Yochanan): The custom for carobs is like R. Nechemia (that we follow when it was picked rather than when it budded).

Question (R. Shimon ben Lakish to R. Yochanan): Doesn't our Mishnah teach that the sanctity of Sheviis of Bnos Shuach comes in the second year, as they remain on the tree for three years (and this is despite them only being picked once a year). And according to you, it should follow the time that they are picked, so that whatever was picked in Sheviis should have the sanctity of Sheviis...?

R. Yochanan accepted this question against him.

Question (R. Bun bar Kahana): How could it be that Reish Lakish questioned R. Yochanan and he accepted it? Surely R. Yochanan could have answered, "I spoke about carobs and you are asking from Bnos Shuach! I spoke about custom and you are asking from a Halacha of a Mishnah! I said that they followed R. Nechemia and you are asking from other Tannaim!

Conclusion of question: Rather you must say that carobs are the same as Bnos Shuach; that the custom is the same as the Halacha and that R. Nechemia and the other Tannaim agree. (Note: This entry follows the explanation of Rav Chaim Kanievsky.)

They said in Bavel that a tree that budded before Rosh Hashana (1st Tishrei) establishes that it is tithed according to the previous year; if after Rosh Hashana, it is tithed according to the following year.

Question (R. Yudan bar Pedaya to R. Yona): As for carobs, they bud before Rosh Hashana and they are tithed according to the following year?!

Rebuttal: Didn't you hear that R. Chinana bar Papa said that the 'budding' of carobs is when it forms a chain, which happens only after Rosh Hashana!

(R. Yosa): If it grew a third before Rosh Hashana, it is tithed according to the previous year; if after Rosh Hashana, it is tithed according to the following year.

Question (R. Zeira to R. Yosa): Sometimes the rainy season begins late and the date pits only get their white layer after Rosh Hashana. Such dates should be tithed according to the following year but people tithe them according to the previous year?!

Answer (R. Zeira): R. Yosa didn't say his own opinion; he learned it from R. Yochanan and R. Shimon ben Lakish.

(R. Yaakov bar Acha citing Shmuel bar Abba): If they reach 1/3rd before 15th Shevat, they are tithed according to the previous year; if after 15th Shevat, they are tithed according to the following year.

Support (R. Zeira): This is certainly correct (that a carob does not follow its budding even though it is a fruit) because an Esrog is similar - you uprooted the effect of its budding (as it instead follows when it is picked), but you still follow its New Year (15th Shevat like any other tree). Here, in the case of the trees discussed by Rav Nachman, that we follow when they were 1/3rd grown rather than when they were picked, certainly we will not change its New Year!

Question (R. Bun bar Chiya to R. Zeira): If so, the first third should follow the previous year and two-thirds should follow the next year?

Answer (R. Zeira): We follow the first third because it is the hardest to grow (but once it grows, the next two-thirds grows quickly). R. Ba said that R. Zeira is correct and spoke like a professional sharecropper.

Support (Shmuel): 60 days pass until the first 6 leaves emerge. Six days later, 60 leaves emerge.

Baraisa (Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel): From the time that the leaves emerge until they become 'Pagin' is 50 days. From becoming 'Pagin' until they are Shisin Hanovalos is 50 days. From Shisin Hanovalos until they become figs is 50 days.

(Rebbi): Each stage is 40 days (not 50 days).

If a person picked a fig and doesn't know when it budded, R. Yona said that he should count 100 days back - if within those 100 days was 15th Shevat, then he knows when it budded (and can tithe accordingly).

(Chachamim to R. Yehuda): (The Mishnah taught (above (b)) that R. Yehuda said that for Persian figs, their sanctity of Sheviis comes in the year following Sheviis, as they grow every two years.) The Persian figs that grow near you in Tiveria grow once a year and those near you in Tzipori grow every two years. (If so we should follow the majority of Persian dates. The point of dispute here is whether the majority grow fruit every year or every two years - this is the explanation of Rav Chaim Kanievsky citing the Rosh.)