We have alot of property, and wouldn't mind more trees growing up everywhere. I've never seen flowers on these 2 trees either. We do have other sugar maples. In fact, we have this one that puts out tons of seeds, but she's about 100 years old at least, and is on her last leg. We call her "grandma". "Grandpa" fell over a couple years ago. Shouldn't we be seeing flowers at least?? Is it possible they are sterile??

LBF it is true that a brug needs to form a "Y" before it will set buds. I think there's an exception to this rule with some varieties, but very few. Branching is not the same as making a Y. You will see unequal leaf bases where a plant has formed a Y. I have some brugs that reach 6+ feet before they will form a Y and others that will bloom while still very small. If grown from a cutting, where it was taken from on the parent plant can determine how soon it will bloom. If it was taken from above a Y it will normally bloom sooner then a cutting taken below the Y. Karyn

MANGONEWBIE - I would move it out into a semi-sun/partly shaded position for a few weeks and then introduce more sun over time. But just remember. Full, naked all-day Sun on any potted plant will cook and dry out the roots and make the plant suffer, and Virginia does get some toasty summer days. The change in light will probably stimulate more growth, and so, yes, I think you can leave it outside for the whole summer up until the first frost warnings. But just keep an eye on the moisture level of the soil and don't let it dry out too much between waterings.... And...they don't need a full 12-14 hour sun to do well and fruit, so that is the good news..... good luck - MangoWoofie

To exclude lack of pollinators, you may try hand pollination. However, some hybrids will make lots of flowers and still fail to pollinate. There reason is in the chromosomes as Maritza said: A normal plant is diploid, i.e. has one pair of each chromosome: One chromosome from the ovule and one from the pollen, giving two of each. (The pollen and the ovule are haploid, having a single chromosome of each. Only upon fertilization, the lone chromosomes pair-up in the fertilized ovule). Some chemicals, such as Colchicine, disrupt the cell division and result in doubling the number of chromosomes in the plant cells. Quote from Wikipedia: "Colchicine is also used for inducing polyploidy in plant cells during cellular division by inhibiting chromosome segregation during meiosis" A plant cell exposed to colchicine does not segregate the chromosomes and the cell ends-up with a double number. The resulting plant is tetraploid, having 2 pairs of each chromosome, or 4 of each. The tetraploid is fertile, but when crossed with a diploid, the resulting seed will give a triploid plant, having 3 chromosomes of each. An odd number means that when chromosomes group in pairs, one will remain solitary. The reason is as follows: One of the cells (ovule, or pollen) is diploid (2n), the other is haploid (n). The fertilized egg will be triploid (2n+n=3n). The triploid plant will flower profusely, but will fail to fertilize. Even a thorough hand pollination will give you no seeds at all. This is how seedless fruits are developed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedless_fruit