starting to get discuraged

[Mowerboy04]

some of u may have read my last post about maybe quiting in the fall. some of the reasons i might be quiting is becase of one my school and the other is that im haveing a hard time getting my lawns to look as good as other lawn services can. dose any one have any tips for stripeing laws i have a bob-cat 219 that i can't get to stripe so if any one has any tips it would be greatly appreacited
alex

[lawnprosteveo]

Just speaking from my own experience in my own area, there are different types of customers. Not everyone cares if they have stripes or if their yard is manicured. I have some customers that are like that, but I have more that just want their yard kept cut. No frills, nothing fancy, just cut weekly to look neat. Have you considered trying to get those accounts instead of getting out of the business totally? Just something to consider.

[Green Pastures]

You have to find your niche.

What are you able to do better than the next guy and what do you like doing.

Go with that.

[turfmann]

David Mellor, groundskeeper for the (world champion) Boston Red Sox, wrote a book a couple of years ago on exactly this subject. Here is the amazon link.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

[Tom-N-Texas]

Screw the stripes. You're in this thing to make money. Of course you want your customers lawns to nice when you leave, but there is a point to where you can spend too much time/money trying to make each lawn look perfect.

Most people just want their yard cut. They're not looking for, nor willing to pay for something fancy.

[kc2006]

There was a post awhile back about what everyone's customers want and only a couple people said their customers are concerned about stripes. Most people in that thread said stripes are for our own pleasure.

What is done to the bobcat? I have a 48" bobcat walkbehind that will leave just as good of stripes if I use a proslide or not. Nothing is done to it, side discharge with gator blades. I'm trying to get a roller I have to work on it but theres not alot of room so I may just put on a flap like the gravely's come with stock. make sure your deck pitch is right, and I found if you go slower it will stripe better, also mulch kits help in my area, any more I had a mulch kit on left killer stripes.

[Jackman]

Not sure what a 219 is ,but I have had a 36 and 48 inch walkbehind Bobcat and a T-3100 60 inch Bobcat rider they all stripe well....Are your blades sharp? Is the underside of the deck scraped free of grass? Is the tire pressure set proper on all 4? Experament with differant mowing speeds maybe try a double cut once in awhile.... I have found that the weed free lawns stripe out much better than the lawns with broad leaf and crabgrass...... And last but not least is exsperience , as you mow more you improve and in time you will learn little things that help give you that manicured look............ Good Luck

[stumper1620]

I'm not sure how your side of the state is doing but, over here on the west coast the weather has been so screwy that the grass hasn't hardly even started growing, lots of thin areas & the weeds seem to be all that is having a fast rate of growth, anyway I guess what all this is leading up to is, At this point in the season with conditions as bad as they are don't feel bad its next to impossible to get stand out stipping right now, also, what height of cut are you set at, 2.5 to 3" is going to produce the better strips.
I just got home from a servce call on a golf course and their stripes look horrid along with the growth just is not there.

[grassmanvt]

Bobcats and buntons typically stripe pretty good bone stock. Some problems might be conditions, type of grass, time of day you are looking at it, and, of course practice. On the other hand, around here most of the lco's don't even stripe anyway, only three or four of us in our area do, I get the feeling that as previously mentioned we are often striping for our own gratification and bragging rights. I think I could cut circles in most places and no-one would know the differance. As far as the school conflictions, only you can make that decision. Best of luck!

[wiselawns]

Don't worry about the stinking stripes. Cut in straight lines, in a different direction each week, show up on time, don't leave giant clumps of grass in the yard, don't leave grass on the sidewalks, driveway,etc., be friendly to people and treat them fairly, and stick with it.