Lawn patterns

16 years ago

Hey folks...

I've noticed in a couple of yards I've driven by, that there is a distinct diagonal pattern in the grass. It's not bold or anything, just a series of diagonal lines in the cut. How is this done? And is it difficult to do?

Looks very cool. TIA for the responses.

BTW, I posted this in the other Lawncare forum, too. Hoping to find someone with knowledge of this.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

habiem
16 years ago
cutlas,

Is it this type of diagonal pattern, or something different?
{{gwi:1104171}}

This is just a product of mowing the lawn in a diagonal pattern. This was early on in the year, so you can't see the cross pattern, but I generally alternate the angle I cut so that it makes a nice criss-cross pattern on the lawn.

Commercial mowers will leave a more distinct pattern than this - usually much wider, but with a regular homeowner mower, you can get a pattern.

The real key is having a healthy lawn. The greener the lawn, the more distinct the pattern is (in my opinion). My bluegrass is cut to 4", which certainly helps the pattern show up, too. The pattern is created by the blades being pushed in opposite directions as the mower passes over them. This allows them to reflect light differently, thereby making the cutting pattern noticeable. Believe it or not, this is the exact same principle used in baseball stadiums to create the great patterns you see there.

I've not personally tried it, but I heard someone mention one time that you can put a piece of rebar in the little black flap on the back of the mower to help 'encourage' the grass to lay in the direction you are mowing. That would make the pattern even more noticeable, though I'd be careful not to mash it down too much.
0
okcdan
16 years ago
Hi,

It's called lawn striping. It works best on cool season grasses that are mowed up around 3" or 4" and doesn't work near as well on say bermuda cut at 1/2".

Here's a couple images of some:
{{gwi:116719}}

{{gwi:101761}}

{{gwi:101759}}

They're put on the lawn typically using a roller attachment on the mower. Here's a pic of one attached to a riding mower:

Check out Big League Lawns for info on their pricey rollers, or you can google lawn striping and get quite a few hits.

Happy Independence Day!

Dan
0
Related Discussions
Patterns in the lawn?
Q
Comments (12)
Like most of my replies, I came up with my reply through actual experience. Those universal stiper/rollers are novel idea but they are not without a few fundamental problems. As stated, you cannot walk backwards with the mower. I have a habit of going backwards on account of not have a very large lawn to where I can circle around. Also the things really aren't all that universal. You can make do with the mounting hardware that comes with it but you have to rig something so that it will fit onto your handle bars. Also it is much bigger in real life than it looks on ebay. And you need to fill it with something heavy. I don't use self propelled mowers so I don't need any additional weight. I'll tell you what though, I've actually put a great deal of thought into what will make the best striper and while I know what this material is, I haven't found a way to make a universal attachment to work with every mower. Basically, it's a piece of flexible rubber. Many lawn mowers already have a thin piece of rubber on the back well this would work in that fashion only much thicker. Doing this will put a nice stripe by bending the grass blades yet it's not heavy so it's a cinch to use. Also you can go forward or backwards with your mower and it doesn't matter. And you can disengage it easily on the fly with no tools. So now you know a little more in depth the problems with the universal lawn roller/striper. Yes it will bend over your grass but it's not without issues. For the $50 retail price new, you can make something that works even better out of 2x4's or rubber like with my technique. I had a neighbor once that liked to stripe his st. augustine by simply pushing the mower in exactly the same place every time. This would cause the wheels to leave ruts in between the rows or passes he would make. It was a nice effect but not official MLB stripes. For that you need a cool season grass and more specifically, something that is long enough to bend over for the effect. It is much more noticeable with long grass.
...See More
lawn geese patterns
Q
Comments (4)
Not sure if my pics came thru but here they are again..the bathing suit top is just a tube of fabric and styroform ball cut in half and put inside the tube of fabric and then sewn in the middle to make it look sorta like a bra.. the skirt is just a long strip of fabric hemmed and then a piece of elastic put in the top part of the strip and maybe some kind of rick rack or what ever you want to add to the hem.. huggy
...See More
What's killing my new lawn, and what should I do about it?
Q
Comments (1)
1) Can you confirm this is a lawn fungus? Pattern has been, grass gets a dry area and then develops the yellow color of doom. Mostly this happened in a handful of places the irrigation doesn't cover too well. I'm not an expert at disease in northern lawns, but if I had those spots in my St Augustine I would declare it a disease. 1) What is the best path forward from here? Just hope and wait the fungicide works? Am I watering too much/too little? Can I over fungicide? Can I go get immunox and double down or will that kill the grass? You can absolutely overuse fungicide. As far as I'm concerned you already have. To my belief using a fungicide is like poisoning your soil, so I stay away from it. Why? Because most of the beneficial microbes in your soil are fungi. Best path depends on the watering issue. Are you watering too much or too little? You'd have to tell us how much you're watering to help us with an answer to that. How often do you water and for how long? If you are still watering multiple times per day, as if this were just installed, then you're watering too much. That would be my suspicion. Transitioning from new install watering to mature turf watering can be tricky. At this point if you are watering more than once every 10 days to 2 weeks then I'd be suspicious of too much water. Put some cat food or tuna cans in the yard and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill them. That's how long you should be watering. 2) Is the yellow grass a goner? At this point in time I'm planning on having to resod a handful of places come September, but if it'll come back on it's own I'd be very happy. Agree. Adjust your watering for now and resod selected spots at your leisure. Boston area is a forgiving climate for new grass, unless you got bad advice on watering the new grass.
...See More
Help with yellow lawn (lawn between sidewalk and street)
Q
Comments (18)
To me, that manhole looks awfully suspicious. I can't imagine it backing up, but in looking at your first photo with the manhole at the bottom, I can imagine water taking a path where the black dirt spots are and settling out. If there is a grade away from the cover, you could get die off from the grass farthest from the manhole first, I suppose. Why not try this: Take a bucket with a few gallons of water and pour it slowly right next to the manhole where the lawn meets it. See where the water collects and maybe you can learn something about the die off pattern...doesn't look natural. See if you notice any gas bubbles forming in the water as others have suggested some kind of gas leak. Probably nothing, but easy to test.
...See More
cutlas72
Original Author
16 years ago
Yeah guys, thanks for the pics. That is exactly the thing I was talking about.

Unfortunately I have Zoysia which will be mowed at 1", so I guess this isn't an option for me. But at least I'll be able to get that dense, carpet look.
Thanks again.
0
habiem
16 years ago
before you rule it out for sure, check out lawnstriper.com and also ask them some questions. I bet it will still work at one inch - I guarantee baseball fields are cut to less than an inch.
0
wmas1960
13 years ago
This appears to be an old topic but I just came upon it. I just bought a house last fall and this spring, it will be my first yard, in a real long time to care for. as I was doing research for the new mower that I just bought, I noticed that Toro has a similar attachment. It holds about 30# of sand and drags behind a mower. It can even be attached to your walk behind. As you mow, the weight bends the grass in the direction that you are mowing and will leave the alternating patterns in the lawn.

Part of me thinks it would be fun but then, I don't want to get those looks from the neighbors. :)
0
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
You better have perfect grass to begin with. Striping a weed patch is less than satisfying.
0

Lawn patterns

Comments (6)

habiem

okcdan

Related Discussions

cutlas72
Original Author

habiem

wmas1960

dchall_san_antonio

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Lawn patterns

Comments (6)

habiem

okcdan

Related Discussions

cutlas72Original Author

habiem

wmas1960

dchall_san_antonio

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

cutlas72
Original Author