# Bermuda Deficiency?



## josh1604 (8 mo ago)

So new to the forum and new to bermuda lawns. Moved into a new house in October (sod was laid earlier in the month) and parts of the lawn are coming along well, other parts seem to be struggling. Did a soil test in early spring and the only things notable that came back were high pH (8.2) and calcium. I imagine the two are linked together and the source is from water. Working on getting the pH down, but in the areas of the lawn that are struggling I get some of this odd growth below. It's not wide spread, but I imagine it's a sign or some sort of deficiency. I have no idea what though. Any ideas?


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Welcome to TLF!!!

Where you live is known to have high pH. Where did get your soil test done at? There is a special test that needs to be done on your soil to get accurate results, it's called an ammonium acetate test or AA.

Is that a picture of a stolon? It's the part of the grass that creeps along the top of the soil.


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## josh1604 (8 mo ago)

Thank you! Found it while looking for other information in internet searches. Seems to be a lot of knowledge on here. Sent them to Clemson. Just looked them over and did not see anything AA. Yes, it appears to be a stolon, but when I see them they are not growing along the ground like they should, they are often sticking up. I'll try to grab another picture when I get home of them actually in the lawn.


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## josh1604 (8 mo ago)




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## ptf18+6 (Dec 8, 2021)

Do the stolons have roots growing out the pat that is contact with the ground?


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## killacam (May 4, 2017)

Hard to tell exactly from those pictures but it appears they have bermuda mite damage. Do you have tufts of weird, deformed looking grass?
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/bermudagrass-mite/


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## josh1604 (8 mo ago)

Sigh… Yeah that's what it is, research is not promising on controlling them either. Plan on getting some Abamectin to spray along with collecting grass clippings and a scalp. Unfortunately, the grass was put in and October and never really got to get really growing before these guys started doing their thing.


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## ianreelmows (8 mo ago)

Mites. Welcome to the club, unfortunately. I'm in a similar boat except I moved into my new place in July last year. I didn't realize that's what it was until last week, I saw the odd growth and discoloration and thought it was a moss issue almost. I put down some DeltaGard G this weekend and will do another application in 21 days. Let me know how Abamectin spray works out for you.


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## josh1604 (8 mo ago)

Going to go the DeltaGard G route myself. Got a bag on the way. Figured I'd start with the cheaper option. Same as you was asking everyone for a while now and just figured out what it was.


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## ianreelmows (8 mo ago)

@josh1604 i applied half the bag of DeltaGard the other night, going to wait 3 weeks and apply the rest. I did end up ordering some Talstar and spraying that this week too. I figured granular and liquid would be the best I can try to do. Keep me posted on how yours goes. It's incredibly frustrating to have such a nice lawn last year and now have these mites put me behind the 8 ball this year.


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## josh1604 (8 mo ago)

@ianreelmows scalped most of the yard this morning have still have one side strip to take care of. New build yard is extremely unlevel so that was a bit of a chore. Unfortunately, I won't be able to level until the get the grass growing good if ever lol. What application rate did you go with on the Telstar?


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## ianreelmows (8 mo ago)

josh1604 said:


> @ianreelmows scalped most of the yard this morning have still have one side strip to take care of. New build yard is extremely unlevel so that was a bit of a chore. Unfortunately, I won't be able to level until the get the grass growing good if ever lol. What application rate did you go with on the Telstar?


I'm 99% I did 1oz per gal as if called for online.


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## killacam (May 4, 2017)

josh1604 said:


> Sigh… Yeah that's what it is, research is not promising on controlling them either. Plan on getting some Abamectin to spray along with collecting grass clippings and a scalp. Unfortunately, the grass was put in and October and never really got to get really growing before these guys started doing their thing.


I had a really bad infestation last season and this spring I did 3 scalps total to try and get rid of them manually. I haven't even experimented with abamectin yet because this has seemed to take care of them. There was only one spot that I noticed a little bit of activity so I hand pulled all of the witches brooms and haven't seen a trace of them in a couple weeks now. Just make sure you bag all your clippings if possible and try the scalping too because it definitely made a huge difference for me.


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