Hard Coated Seed Germination - Black Locust

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Hey Everybody. If you're interested in permaculture, general gardening, or just ways to cut corners and save a few dollars then this is what you're looking for. I've been interested in putting black locust onto our property. That's a tree, and if you're unfamiliar with it, let me tell you why it's popular among permaculturists.

Black Locust Uses

It has so many different uses. Number one: It is a very high nectar tree. It produces a lot of nectar as a main source for our honey bees. Second, it's a nitrogen fixer. So it's going to bring nitrogen out of the air and fixate it into the soil for the rest of the surrounding area. Also, the wood is extremely dense and makes very good use for handles for tools like rakes and so forth. And I'm sure there's plenty of other things that I'm not even mentioning here, like for example, we're going to also use it as a shade tree.

Purchasing Trees

Now if you've ever looked at purchasing trees then I'm sure you understand that they cost a good bit of money. Even at your boxed department stores, you're going to find them going for $20-30 or $40 per tree, usually depending on the popularity of the tree or how long it's already been growing.

Now black locusts cost about the same. Where I've been able to locate it and source it online, because I'm not going to be able to find it at a local nursery, it just wasn't within my price point. Especially for the number of trees that I want to have.

Propagating Trees from Seed

So I started thinking about how I could propagate it myself. So I asked a good friend of mine, and the leader and director of our community garden here locally, Gail. I asked her where could I find black locusts, cause it does grow in the area naturally, and so she went to looking for it and it just so happens that she found three trees that some students of her have propagated from root cuttings from another tree that had been cut down, and I love the history of it, but these three trees happen to be in fruit right now, so I was able to go over and get some of these seeds.

Now something special about these seeds, and I'm sure you may have encountered this on other varieties as well, this isn't a simple go to the store, buy a packet, and put the seed in the ground. You have to treat these seeds. They do have to go through some type of process to get through the hard coat that is a part of the seed.

So the first thing we need to gather together are our instruments. I have an electric kettle, a small glass bowl, and of course the black locust seed that I have collected. I'm just going to turn on my electric kettle, sit back and wait for it to boil. Once it does come to a rolling boil I will take the water and pour it into the small glass bowl.

Now I want to have seven black locusts on my property to ensure that I have good germination, I'm going to plant 14 seeds. So I'm going to take my 14 seeds and put them into the boiling hot water and set them aside for tomorrow.

On the next day, I've got a bowl with a sieve to separate out my seeds, I also have a paper towel with three of the original unprocessed seeds that we're going to use for reference, and the bowl that has been waiting for us overnight. Simply take the bowl with the seeds in it and pour them through the sieve so that you can separate out your seeds, and then pour the seeds onto the paper towel.

Now the purpose of the reference seeds is to see whether or not the hot process worked. If it did work, then the hot water would have deteriorated enough of the shell that the seed itself would have bulged a bit. It would have appeared to grow in size. But as we start comparing these, it didn't work.

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