Turf striping

[southside]

I am fairly new to commercial mowing(6 mnths)<br>prior to which I concentrated more on<br>slashing and land clearing.I have a Kubota<br>T1760 ride on (John Deere LX188 would be<br>equivalent in the States).My question is,<br>how do you get that stripe finish on a lawn?<br>Can't figure it out.Hope this isnt too<br>dumb a question.Never had to worry about this<br>on a tractor and slasher.Any info would<br>be appreciated.<p>Karl

[Eric ELM]

Karl, I wrote a small article and have 2 picture links to show me mowing a lawn and putting in stripes. I have been asked this question so many times I decided to put this on my site. I think this will answer your question. I hope it helps. If not, let me know.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

[MWHC]

Eric has a real nice page and a good description of how to stripe lawns. Some mowers do this better than others. The striping is caused by the grass laying in one direction. I have seen striping kits available for some larger deck sizes, usually 44&quot; and greater. The ones I have seen are a thin piece of rubber mounted on the backside of the deck. This helps lay the grass in the direction you are mowing.

[jakev]

Striping is nice but I really think that 90% of customers... residential or commercial could care less. All they care about is that its done on Thursday or whatever day you told them you would be there.<p>I also don't think coustomers care if you use a new shiny ZTR or a old beatup t-bar toro. As long as it gets done.

[Metroman]

Eric has a nice site, i looked at it myself to get an idea of how its done.<p>i think that people do care what there yards look like. The people i cut for could care less about what day i cut as long as it looks good! If that was not the case i would just load up my BIG BEAR 4WHEELER and pull a reel mower behind it.

[bdemir]

ok i think that whether the customer cares about the striping or not depends on the size of the lot too. Sometimes striping will not matter because of size. If the lawn is in bad shape then stripng will show less. If its a big lawn and its fertilized and has some hills it will show off your work better. I cut many 20x20 yards and for those you can cut anyway and it doesnt matter but i think if the customer sees their yard look nice which shows off their lawn and lanscape and their property then i think it will matter. If you want to see the differnce look at erics lawns. a customer should be happy to have their lawns looking sharp not just cut any old way but it depends on the size and the visibilty of the work also.

[cjcland]

eric what type of grass is yhat you are mowing?it really does show the patters nicely<br>great site!!

[Eric ELM]

CJCland, The grass around here is Blue grass and Fescues mostly. I'm glad to see the work I put into my site wasn't in vain and thanks to all for the kind words. I tried to make it an informative site, because we don't need more work. That's why there isn't a phone number or address on it, strictly information for you guys on the forum. I will add more pictures this summer now that I got a digital camera. :)<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

[Lazer]

An just think, he cut all those lawn that beautifully with a Dixie Chopper! Talk about talented.<p>Can you imagine if he would've done them with a Lazer Z?! They'd be too hot to download.

[CustomCutLawnsLLC]

Lazer. <br> If yours is too hot to download I'd like to see some anyway.Email me and I'll give you my address.<br> John

[Lazer]

No, MINE aren't! Eric's would be. I really don't do near as good of a job taking pictures. I've got a camera and take some, but I don't even know how to use the scanner that's in our office to put them on the Internet.<p>My previous comment is a compliment to Eric and just trying to compehend how those sites would look if he used a real mower.

[CustomCutLawnsLLC]

Lazer,<br> Just curious as to how they stripe.I have 2 choppers myself.I hope to get my site to looking half as good as Eric's.

[Eric ELM]

Lazer, If I ever get up to Michigan, we will have to try that. <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>