After the woes of scarifying honey locust seeds, they were soaked for a few more hours is fresh not quite boiling water. Bee pickup required a few days at the farm, so the seeds were planted regardless if they had swelled. Many seeds had swelled.

Before:

 

After:

The experiment closely resembles the Persimmon experiment with one notable difference in the plain soil used in the recipe. As Gleditsia triacanthos is a leguminous tree, the soil in which it grows requires a specific bacterial population in the microbe ecosystem to facilitate the nitrogen fixing symbiotic relationship with roots. Therefore some soil was dug at the base of parent Honey Locust trees to inoculate the seed starting mix.

Seed starter soil recipe:

The basic recipes are:

Control: 4 parts aged manure/wood shavings compost, 1 part worm castings, 1 part plain soil 1 part soil from under a parent tree

Group 1: Control recipe plus 2 parts perlite included

Group 2: Group 1 recipe but top layer is entirely perlite

Seed starting trays with 72 cells acquired from walmart for <$6 are the container in which the seeds are planted. All seeds were planted in pairs at a depth of .5 inches.

Other than the inclusion of bacterially rich soil, everything is identical to the the Persimmon setup.

 

Here is the finished tray:

From left to right:

Persimmon seed tray > Honey Locust seed tray > Misfits and leftovers seed tray