I don't think it has anything to do with being in "the south", it's more to do with warm season grasses that are more common in the south. They don't bend over very easily and reflect light. You can stripe bermuda by going over it twice where you want a stripe but it doesn't last more than a few days. You can stripe st augustine by running your mower over it in exactly the same place each time you mow and that will leave somewhat decorative ruts where the wheels are of the mower. Has to be a walk behind rotary. You can mow fescue and bluegrass of course but those are cool season grasses and they flop over very easily.

Looks great Triple. Bermuda is tough to stripe.

Wow! Looks great.... did you cut it longer so that it bends easier or did you just mow in the same direction multiple times? Did you use the standard plastic sweeper on a mower or rig something up yourself?

Yes, I have raised the cut from 3/8th to 3/4 inch but its not quite as easy as just having longer blades of grass. It is taking me more than just mowing one direction and then the other. After seeing what the experts can do with striping has me a bit obsessed with this new found hobby. I use the morning dew to make a pattern. This pattern will faintly hang around after drying giving you a pattern to cut. I then use the reel mower, brooms, and rollers to get the desired effect. The eagle template in the link works better than expected. My stripes are amateurish when compared to the Dixie Choppper with striping kit crowd but I'm having still enjoying this challenge. I think the most important striping factor is a level surface, something I don't have yet. Wish some of the pros would post their stripes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Striping

Striping Fairways is my retirement job for the last three years. I have a roller on my Tru-Cut but don't put much effort into stiping at home because that's all I do at work. I used to have all kinds of photos of the patterns I've done at work, but they have been deleted. Here is one basic one and the Fairway unit I use. Yours looks great Triple.

{{gwi:100456}}

{{gwi:100457}}

What a dream job, your own personal striping machine and a golf course for a canvas. Nice stripes on that fairway. IMO striping is the pinacle of lawn care. For those that are interested check out the Scag site linked below for more dandies like the attached photo.

{{gwi:100458}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Scag shows their stripes

If you like stripes that is definitely a great link. I just can't take so much tall turf. Most of that stuff looks like it is cut about 3 inches or higher...Blasphemy!!

trplay, looks great! Do you know if anyone makes rollers for rotary push mowers?

yes, there are several. Lawn Stryper comes to mind but I have no idea how well it works (google it and you will get several hits). It seems pretty expensive. I've seen where others make their own with pvc pipe. If anyone has any other ideas I would be interested in hearing them.

Man, that Lawn Stryper is very expensive for what it is. I would have guessed it being in the $40-$60 range, not $150. I'd definitely love to hear some ideas on homemade stripers as well.

Here's a link to a picture of my stripes.

http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc342/jeffcosgrove1/LawnStripes.jpg

Great stripes, Jeff. You should post that photo directly into the body of your message so everyone can see them.

Take a piece of rubber anti-fatigue floor mat and cut to the width of your mower and bolt it on the rear of the mower so that it hangs down about 2 inches or enough so that you can move forward and backwards without any trouble. Voila. Stripes in cool season lawns. Those big rollers are a p.i.t.a.

Here are my stripes. Mowed yesterday so they aren't quite as noticeable. I'm currently cutting around 5/8 of an inch with a true cut. Just had the bed knife replace and sharpened.
{{gwi:100459}}
{{gwi:100460}}
{{gwi:100461}}
{{gwi:100462}}

The grass is growing like crazy and now the stripes are falling off the back of the mower. Cut today in 100 plus heat and I think its already grown some more.

Looking really good Triple. Are you using just the optional front roller on the Tru-Cut or have you installed some kind of rear roller?

I use the optional front roller. This whole striping thing seems to be magic. My front yard is now striping easily while the back yard is not showing any promise at all. The grass quality is the same for both locations. I am hoping the back yard will do like the front and just start striping at some point. At first the front wouldn't stripe either? I have been looking at placing some type of drag on the back of the Tru-cut but it really isn't needed on the front now. Wish I knew what caused the change. I have learned to hold up on the mowers handle bars while I cut. This really makes a difference in quality of cut, especially when cutting the ditch. This is a bit strenuous so I fatigue fast but the cut is improved. This may be the difference in striping since my back yard is a lot larger than the front and I dont lift the bar nearly as much. If its not one thing its another--now moles have invaded the back!