Bugs are unlikely this time of year...unless you are writing from Australia. It looks like a different kind of grass which has not come out of dormancy yet. As I zoom in it looks like it might be a disease process in the St Aug. Where do you live, how often do you water (and for how long), and when were the last two times you fertilized?

You should probably pull the mulch away from the trunk of your tree until the roots of the tree are starting to show. The bark on the outside of the trunk is different from the bark outside the roots. Trunk bark can get a disease that eventually girdles the tree. Before that happens you'll see a lot of things going wrong with the tree.

I live in houston texas, last time i fert was on feb 9th and before that was october 2016. With the rain we've been getting, i haven't turned on my sprinkler system all this year.

Should I pull back the dirt beneath the mulch from the trunk as well?

Thanks for your help dc....

Welcome to the forum, BTW James. What part of Houston are you in? I'm up NW in Cypress

Hey reeljake. Whats going on neighbor! Im in Cypress Tx as well.

Nice, welcome Neighbor! I'm in the po' folks section of Towne lake.

Lol. Thx. Im down the street in CCL.

I figured you must be in CCL or bridge land, Towne lake is almost all bermuda

james said: Should I pull back the dirt beneath the mulch from the trunk as well?

If you look closely at the trunk of a tree typically it gets wider at the base just above the normal soil level. It gets wider because the roots are feeding into the trunk at ground level, if that makes sense. Did you bury the trunk with soil when it was planted? It should be pretty obvious whether the trunk has been buried by soil as well. If you're not sure, take some photos and post them here.

It's really hard to tell from so far away what's going on there. Just scrape the soil away with a garden tool. You should see the trunk flare out just a little where the trunk is turning into the roots. It should be pretty easy to tell. If you're not sure, take some close photos after you scrape the mulch and/or soil away from the trunk. I don't think the soil level has to be exact. You just don't want 6 inches or 12 inches of the trunk covered up in what's called a "tree volcano."

I could be wrong, but I believe trees are sometimes planted a little higher than the surroundings because as they grow they get heavy and sink in to match the surroundings better. In any case, trees should be planted on solid, packed earth at the bottom of the root ball to minimize that sinking. That's different from being planted and then buried over with a volcano.

This is tree #1

Tree #2

I pulled mulch back to wear I saw little thin roots.

Google trunk flare or root flare.

I am really not a tree expert but from your photos there could be an issue there. It is a little hard to tell. I would suggest you post these photos in a tree form on gardenweb and see what they think.

Will Anything bad is going to happen to those little thin roots?

I would worry about the tree, not the feeder roots. Trees planted below grade develop insect and disease issues that end up destroying the bark and eventually the tree. I lost two trees that way because the developer planted them too deep.

As danielj said, post on the tree forum and you should get detailed info until it comes out of your ears. :)

Here is what the root flare looks like

Thanks everyone and will post in the tree forum

Could you post back here once you hear what they say over there, or send a link? I'm curious what the outcome of this is.