It appears that a lot of the bark is missing on the trunk - what happened to it? A tree normally won't survive if it's girdled (de-barked all around) and yours seems to have a big problem... the orange spots may just be symptoms of a much worse problem. Do you have deer or ??? there?

BK - I see only completely normal exfoliation of the bark on this tree - nothing out of the ordinary. The mottled gray/orange bark underlying the peeling bark is also normal. If you do a Google search using the search words trident maple exfoliating, I'm sure you'll find something confirming what I said.

Take care.

Al

Tapla's absolutely right - I've never grown a trident, so didn't think about the bark, and the orange is apparently quite normal too.

Could we see a pic of the whole tree?
I've only started collecting Trident seedlings over the past two summers, but I'd say I'm hooked.

Josh

Thanks guys. Haven't taken a picture of the whole tree, but I will soon with a new question about what kind of training pot to put it in. It's been a wet winter and I naturally want this guy to be ok. Thanks, again.