Mowing the Lawn

[lilbuddy]

When I am mowing a clients lawn, how do I put those mowing lines in the lawn where they look really definite? Does this depend on the texture of the grass or can you make those lines with any type of turf grass?:confused:

[keifer]

man there is a ton of threads on that. just run a search. there is info on homemade ones,store bought one and so on.

[ceaman]

Look up striping, striping chain or striping roller. Use the search function at the top right of the page.

And welcome to Lawnsite!

[mdb landscaping]

What type of mower do you have? some mowers have been argued to not stripe as nicely. try and do a search on the site for striping, youll find hours of reading material. the easiest way to make stripes, is that you have to make one line, in a straight direction, turn around, and come back right next to the other stripe. then if you want, double cut the grass going the opposite direction or angle, and you will get that checkerboard effect.

[stslawncare]

do a search which i am sure will answer all ur questions, if u have more contact eric, he is the striping king :-)

[GarPA]

related question...kind of...some lawns can best be mowed only in one pattern because of obstacles, size etc...do you have many clients who complain that mowing in the same pattern mostly is not good for the grass...I have one very good client who wants the pattern alternated and its a pain in my neck.

[stslawncare]

mowing in different directions is better for the lawn i believe? so this would fall under the category if u are more concerned about quality over time or not.

[NHLawns]

I picked up the book by David R. Mellor, Picture Perfect
Mowing Techniques for Lawns, Landscapes, and Sports
It goes into good detail on how to achive these affects
you are looking for.

Hope this helps

Jim

[Eric ELM]

David R. Mellor was nice enough to send me an autographed copy of his book while I was in the Hospital in January. I thought the old gentleman that delivered the mail at the hospital was going to have a heart attack like I had when he delivered the package to me. He said, "You have a package from the Boston RedSox". He was almost screaming when he said it. :D

I thought he was loud when he delivered the Get Well Card from David the week before and saw the Red Sox address on it, but the package really got him excited. In case you didn't know, David is the groundskeeper for Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox's baseball field. I thought it was very nice of him to send me a card and the book. It's nice to have friends in times like that. ;)

[SLS]

My wife bought me Mellor's book for Christmas.

What a good girl she is! (well, most of the time anyway) :)

It is excellent.

BTW: When I unwraped it and took a peek inside the first thing I thought was:

"I wonder if Eric has seen this book yet?" :laugh:

Small world, ain't it?

[jaybird24]

Thanks for the info guys on the book- heading out to buy it right now. I forgot who originally brought up the topic, but make sure sure not to overlap your deck on each pass too much, it ruins the effect. Hell I hardly even overlap at all- I've had some of my guys try following my lines and they said I must have been squeezing every millimeter out of my blades- just make sure they're sharp. By the way Eric- like those stripes.

[pilotcoplawnboy]

Mowing in a up and down direction will get you the desired lines that you want. I enjoy mowing yards and giving it the striped look and if the yard is small enough I will side to side to give it the checkered board effect. Looks awesom when you are just riding by the house. If the yard is too big it will eat into your time. Plus mowing in different patterns helps keep the grass from getting the tire ruts.