Hi, 

Can you provide a photo? We are not sure of the symptoms you are describing. 

Chiggers have been out this year with the high temperatures but they do not like mowed grass so if you are keeping your grass mowed at the appropriate height that should help. 

White tips on grass sounds like either powdery mildew or maybe sun scorch and it could be from a reflection of glass or metal onto the lawn. 

A photo will help us diagnose the problem and give proper recommendations. You can attach some to the response of this email. One of the general area and growing conditions and some in focus us close will help too. 

Emily 

Emily pictures of grass will follow. 

Hello Dottie,

Chigger mites feed on host animals (including other arthropods for part of their life cycle), not on plants, so they will not cause feeding damage to grass blades. Other mites, like spider mites, plus some insects, like leafhoppers and thrips, can feed on sap or juices from plant foliage and cause stippling damage, which makes the leaf tissue lose its color and turn paler. Leafhoppers can be common in turfgrass, though we rarely see notable damage from their activity (they jump away as you walk through the grass, and are usually green in color). Spider mites and thrips can be common on various plants, but here too, we rarely see any impacts from either on turfgrass, and other factors are usually responsible for leaf symptoms. Clover mites are sometimes abundant in lawns and they do feed on plants (including grasses), but visible damage from their activity is similarly rare. Clover mites don't bite, unlike chigger mites.

Once we receive photos we'll see if we recognize the symptoms, and we can consult with a turfgrass specialist if we can't tell what is affecting the lawn. A dull mower blade can contribute significantly to a frosted- or lackluster-looking lawn, so if that is suspect, see if sharpening or replacing the blade solves the problem after a couple of mowings.

Miri

Thank you for all the excellent information
Sent from my iPhone

You're welcome.

Did you receive my pictures of spotted grass

Dorothea

No, we did not receive any grass photos. If attaching the files to your reply is not working, then you can paste the images into the body of your reply instead. (They will need to be a minimum of 1MB in file size each in order for us to see enough detail.)

Miri

I sent them twice just by using your email as I don’t know how to attach or paste. 

We're not sure which email address you used, but unfortunately we have not received any photos. (If it was <personal data hidden>, that is the address that sends the replies we submit, but not where new questions are received.) Files can be attached in Ask Extension by using the "choose file" (or a similarly-worded link) just below the area where a reply is typed. If you have been replying in an email program instead, you may need to try accessing the question in the Ask Extension platform itself.

Miri