it looks like you have dirt in a pot ... can you get a media.. and can you tune it to trees.. which usually prefer a drink of water.. with full drainage.. and near drying in between ... i am pretty sure you already know this on some level.. with your comment about plowing the soil ... you also have salts accumulating on the edge of the soil.. which further indicates improper drainage ... roots need air.. as much as they need water ... somehow.. your soil is out of balance in regard to such ... ken

Not much info to go on. When was it last repotted? What kind of light does it get? Is there mulch on top of the soil?

I haven't done Gymnocladus but have done Gleditsia (same family 'Fabaceae') and same general germination instructions. I collected seed pods on a trip, from the ground under mature trees on June 1st. Returned home on June 4th. Must've been the 5th of June I lightly scarified just part of the seed sides using #600 grit sand paper. Just enough to see a lighter color exposed, under the thin hard red seed coating. I soaked them in hot tap water (mine is set for 130d or so) but found if I set the shallow jar with water on a heat mat, to keep the water warm, the seeds swelled in just several hours. Planted immediately into starting mix. By June 9th, I started seeing little sprouts popping up from the cups. By June 11, all were out of the seed coating. And by June 16th, I had little trees. Hope yours do as well but they appear to be very fast and easy to start. I Planted one of mine in the front yard by June 10th and it's now 2 ft. tall and coming back, after winter, for it's second year. :^)

The fall color for this tree is always yellow. Philadelphia zone 7a. I am figuring it’s just a phase, but once those leaves start dropping I will know if the problem is bigger than I expected. Ball and burlap with almost all burlap and metal caving removed. A lot of new growth budded on the beaches and then died off. I expect that for such a large transplant and the shock it went through. Hoping the color issue is just acclimation. I’ll keep the post updated.