I have tried several times to grow maples. Every time, something has gone wrong and they didn't survive.
I always make sure the seed is viable(In other words I can feel the seed inside the pod) before I plant it.
The first time I tried to grow maples I planted 4 of them because I didn't know how many would grow. They all were going strong until fall came. Not only did they lose their leaves but they didn't form any bark and died from the cold.
The second time I tried I only planted 2 because I thought "Maybe the competition for nutrients was too much for any tree to form bark". They survived for 3 years. The maples were in 1 pot and a second pot was for the groundwater. This helped them through the droughts of summer. The 3rd year that the trees were growing though 1 of them got several wounds in the bark. I taped it so that the tree could heal. After a few weeks I gradually peeled it off making sure that the new bark was fully attached to the tree. I saw no leaf buds on my trees during the 4th year when the other maples already had their leaves.
The third time I tried I planted 3 seeds. 1 of them grew. But this one was worse. Even though there was no groundwater the bark formed in an unusual fashion. Instead of forming from bottom to top like the 2 trees before this, it formed from top to bottom. It never had bark at the very bottom. And it wasn't because of a wound because then I would eventually see bark there.
This year I tried to grow a maple and it was even worse. I planted just 1 seed. It was planted in May just like the third attempt was. It started growing strong. A few days later and there is a lot of rain during that time period. I never watered it when it rained(Or in general when the soil was moist) but I did give it a deep watering when I planted it. Even so the leaves started to yellow like they were overwatered. 1 fell off then the other followed. These were still baby leaves and I didn't see a stem, just the leaves. The root system was still intact and I knew that trees are known to grow back after they are supposedly dead but sadly, it didn't grow back.
Why do I have so many issues with growing maples? Maples should be a pretty easy tree to grow regardless of the species(Which in my case is Sugar Maple). And I don't think it is the soil because other trees have survived in that soil including a Fir sapling that I got from school years ago.