Have a 20 yr old red maple, and the bark has been splitting and coming loose. The tree didn't appear robust this summer, and started losing a lot of leaves by August.

I had to pry off large sections of the loose bark to get rid of the earwigs, but found the underneath to be mainly brownish and dry, not "white and moist".

It sits in a wet area during heavy and continous rain, but the water eventually drains away.

My hunch is that the tree has grown too fast for the bark to keep up, hence the splitting and prying of the bark.

Any thoughts? Thanks.