lawn stripes whats the deal

[slingshot]

ok. maybe im stupid or somthing but when you cut a lawn and leave stripes .that is from the grass being pushed in one direction right.well lets say you cut the lawn and leave stripes how come the next week when you cut at say a 90 degree angle how come you can still see last weeks stripes .after all you are pushing the grass a diferent way right so you shouldnt see the old stripes. there has to be somthing else to it.

[Evan528]

hahahhahahahahha- What do you think there is a spray can painting the grass in diffrent colors as were mowing? There is so much wind under a deck it pushes the grass in the direction your going... its as simple as that. Striping is something i discoverd the first time i cut a lawn.... i thought the two colors back and fourth looked good so ive been doing it ever since. Its still funny to me how people in this buissness have to ask how to stripe.... isnt that just something you discover as soon as you use a lawn mower? Its just common sence too me.... When i go foward it leaves a white-ish tint in the grass, when i come back in leaves a dark green tink. Put two and two together and you relize it looka good to mow back and forth in straight lines to create the striping instead of goin in circles causing half the lawn to have the white-ish tint and the other half to have a dark green tint. Im not trying to be rude by what i just said.... not at all.... i just dont undertsand it. <br>P.S.- its very crazy but can you beleave i have 2 customers who &quot;tolerate&quot; my striping but dont really like it. alot of other love it when i mention it but never really notice someting like that..... they only care that the grass is mowed.

[Keith]

Grass Physics 101, ask Eric for the class schedule<br>

[gene gls]

Don't get ulcers worring about strips.I mow in a different direction each week and I can see three weeks of strips. It just happens that way.

[slingshot]

EVAN .read the post. i do know how to stripe.but why can you see them after you go over them in a diferent direction the next week.if it is just from pushing the grass over one way wouldnt they disapere when you go over them a dferent way

[stick]

I would like to know if anyone in Florida is doing it on St.Agustine grass or bahai? I haven't seen a lawn yet in Florida that has strips in it.

[lawrence stone]

I am going to order a stripe kit for my 62&quot;<br>Toro and use it on sports fields this fall.

[Keith]

I cut both St. Augustine and Bahia. It is hard to get a distinct stripe in these grasses, at least around here. They do not &quot;lay over&quot; as well as northern grasses. Certain times of the year these grasses stripe a little better. For what it is worth, it seems Walkers stripe a little more sometimes. Just don't expect them to look like Eric's.

[Richard Martin]

Evan, if your mower is pushing grass &quot;because of the wind&quot; maybe you should get it checked out. Both of my mowers have so much suction they will pull objects like paper, leaves and even a tarp one time from inches away from the deck right into it. Striping is usually caused by the back of the mower deck laying the grass down as it moves over it. Some manufactures make stiping kits that assist the striping process.

[KirbysLawn]

Yep....I'm with Richard and the others here, that's why some blades are called &quot;high lift&quot; blades, they lift the blades with a little more force than regular blades. If the blades forced air down I would find it impossible to mow grass because the air would be pushing the grass away from the blades.<p>As far a your question, I have no idea, often wondered the same.<p><font size="1">Edited by: KirbysLawn

[slingshot]

at least you understood it kirby

[bob]

What you are talking about is the &quot;checkerboard or crosshatch&quot; look. Maybe on the second cut, some of the grass blades stay pushed over from the first cut.

[cantoo]

Lawrence, we use the Walker and the Toro wbh on soccer fields, the Walker stripes better by far. The Toro still looks good but the Walker is more noticable. We have been getting lots of comments about the way the fields look now as compared the last companies that looked after them. They have always been cut with tractor style mowers, you know, around and around they go. We also stripe the ball diamonds and from the stands they look really good. We try to cut it a different way each week, I gotta get my wife to take some more pics so I can get them scanned. Been so busy this year we never seem to get time for that.

[TURF Editor]

BTW -- I did an article about how they stripe Major League Baseball diamonds a few years ago (in a different, now defunct magazine).<p>They do it with rollers -- not mowers.<p>David<br>TURF Magazine

[Richard Martin]

Hey David, why don't you write up a new one. It'll give me something to read in your mag besides articles about ponds turning green and golf courses.

[fdew]

Being old, (I took the test, I am older then dirt.) I have seen a few things come and go. I predict that in the next 10 years you will see articals on how to prevent that awfull striping that some mowers do. It will be fun to watch.

[Runner]

The baseball fields are done with both mowing AND rolling. We cut in four different directions, but we use the same lines evry time we cut in that direction. We do two borderlines out and the third one going the opposite direction. Consistantly using this formula assures us that we'll never lose our lines for instance if the grass gor to long and we couldn't see a particular direction. After we start cutting on it, and the lines are right on, then that contrast comes right back again. The only problem is, that now that we're also cutting with Exmarks, we have to do three lines from the building or road, then go back down the third row in the opposite direction. I guess that's what we get for running mowers that discharge 20 ft.

[Guido]

Theres a guy thats coming out with a new roller type striping kit for exmarks. I'll try to put the pics he gave me up on my site today and I'll put a link to his webpage there too. If not, you can e-mail me and I'll give you his e-mail address.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti