Bermuda grass mite

Symptoms

Bermuda grass takes on tufted, bushy, rosetted growth at the shoot tips — the internodes shorten so the leaves bunch together into little 'witches' brooms'. The grass becomes pale and stunted, thins out, and may die back in patches in hot, dry weather. The mites themselves are microscopic and hide inside the leaf sheaths, so you diagnose by the tufting, not by seeing the pest.