My trees have a rusty-reddish color on the bark of the lower trunk

[Treefriendshesam]

Is a reddiish hue to tree bark a sign of disease or fungus? Today, I noticed the bark on at least one of my trees has a rusty-colored appearance it didn't have last week. It is true that I am suddenly paying more attention to the trees in the yard and I have no idea if this happens every year or if it's alarming. It has been raining a ton, cold overnight most nights and unseasonably warm almost every day so far this December. A detail that may or may not be relevant is that I've been digging some so-far shallow holes and trenches near the tree I noticed this on, in an effort to channel flooding into specific spots in my yard, and eventually drain into a dry well about 40 feet away, that I've been working on as well.. I noticed this just before sundown, but I'll take photos tomorrow and add them to this post. Thanks for any insight!

 

[pdqdl]

Good on the pictures, plan. We will need those pictures first, my friend. Many trees have a natural reddish tint to the bark, but we cannot tell without knowing the tree species. There are too many variables here to just guess.

Send us some wide angle pictures that capture all of the tree, then some closeups of the rusty color, the root flare where the tree meets the ground, and a few pictures of the tree branches and twigs. Foliage pictures are a must, if you can manage that.

After we get more information, you will probably get some good advice.

For starters, I am not aware of any pathogenic conditions that spontaneously erupt on a tree. This is almost certainly a condition that you have been overlooking for a long time. That or some friction has rubbed off some bark, exposing the color beneath.