Thank you for contacting Ask Extension. Before I can give you a response, I have a few questions to ask. Have you noticed the canopy thinning? Are the leaves appearing smaller each year? Is there any girdling roots around the trunk? Can you send a picture of the trunk itself? Close up and then a bit further away.

Thank you for contacting Ask Extension. There are many reasons why a Maple is producing lots of seeds. Have you noticed the canopy thinning? Are the leaves appearing smaller each year? Is there any girdling roots around the trunk? These could cause a surplus of seeds also.

Maples are producing more seeds in Michigan due to the stress the trees experienced the summer before. In the context of your state, the growing seasons of 2013 and 2014 were particularly favorable, following a drought in 2012. However, the winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 were extremely cold, with temperatures dropping to -25 to -27 degrees Fahrenheit in many places. This stress caused the trees to allocate more energy to seed production, which is at the expense of leaf production. Last year, we had high temperatures along with high winds, that can also put undo stress on the tree.

When maples are under stress, they tend to put more energy into seed production, which can result in a large quantity of seeds. Once the seeds have fallen, the tree will redirect its energy back to leaf production, assuming there are no other underlying problems with the tree.

It's worth noting that seed production in maples can vary from year to year, and is often attributed to prior years of stress that induce greater flower production to compensate for that stress. And smaller leaves to make up for that production of seeds.

If we are getting under one inch of rain a week, be sure to water the maples so they can get to the business of growing more leaves. You don't want to add an additional stress to trees that have been ping-ponged from one extreme to another.

I have included several publications for your reference:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/maple_seeds_dropping_in_soon

https://bygl.osu.edu/index.php/node/1776