Black Spots on Maple Trees

[Joseph Kellum]

Hello,
I have three maple trees in my front yard of a house I just moved into. I live in the Southern tip of Indiana. The trees have small black spots on the bark, mainly on the trunk. It looks and feels similar to a dried tar substance. I really want to do what I can to heal these trees. Any thoughts on what this is and what can be done? Hopefully you can see the images attached. If you need more info, I will gladly send it if requested.

 

[Raintree]

This looks like it could be Hypoxylon canker.

This looks like bleeding canker.

This may be sooty mold, why is one side of the trunk wet?

Both cankers are bad news, best to get an Arborist out to take a good look.

 

[Joseph Kellum]

It was raining a bit when I took the photos.

 

[arboristCT]

to me they look like bleeding canker, so the best thing to do is to have an arborist check them out in person, to see if the trees are declining.