Anything he might do would take a long time to bear fruit.
An individual bush may bear fruit 30 or more years.
They had been working for a long time, but soon their efforts would bear fruit.
Yet even that approach can take years to bear fruit.
We hope it will bear fruit in a couple of weeks' time.
Whether this will bear fruit is a different matter, but we should at least try.
But such efforts may not bear fruit for another six months.
The changes in police policy, however, could bear greater fruit.
Because the participants had to be followed for many years, these studies are only now beginning to bear fruit.
It will take time for those efforts to bear fruit.
Idiome