Why wont my lawn stay striped???
Discussion
Well, better late than never.....
Here is a photo of the lawn from 2 weeks ago, again 3 days after I had cut it. Since the advice on this thread, it has been cut a notch or two higher on the mower, and has been scarified to an inch of its life over the winter which removed an extraordinary quantity of moss!
As such, it is generally looking a lot more lush and healthy, but still the stripes do not stay for more than a few days.
I'm thinking its time to add some bags of weight to the back of the mower, to roll the grass more heavily? It does seem that the bigger, and therefore heavier, the mower is the better the stripes it leaves.
I do keep meaning to sharpen the blade on the mower, it is probably completely rounded by now as it also gets used for some industrial groundskeeping on very tough grass and weeds....
Here is a photo of the lawn from 2 weeks ago, again 3 days after I had cut it. Since the advice on this thread, it has been cut a notch or two higher on the mower, and has been scarified to an inch of its life over the winter which removed an extraordinary quantity of moss!
As such, it is generally looking a lot more lush and healthy, but still the stripes do not stay for more than a few days.
I'm thinking its time to add some bags of weight to the back of the mower, to roll the grass more heavily? It does seem that the bigger, and therefore heavier, the mower is the better the stripes it leaves.
I do keep meaning to sharpen the blade on the mower, it is probably completely rounded by now as it also gets used for some industrial groundskeeping on very tough grass and weeds....
Edited by ChemicalChaos on Friday 18th July 22:24
Our family home as a child had a huge lawn that me and my brother looked after.
We watered, raked, fed religiously - the cutting process was set to approx 30mm, cut with a rotary first, then a drum mower with roller and finally a roller.
The stripes stayed for a week easily - every weekend the stripes would change direction and once when mum and dad were away we tried a spiral using a stake and rope, it failed and dad went mental
We watered, raked, fed religiously - the cutting process was set to approx 30mm, cut with a rotary first, then a drum mower with roller and finally a roller.
The stripes stayed for a week easily - every weekend the stripes would change direction and once when mum and dad were away we tried a spiral using a stake and rope, it failed and dad went mental
ChemicalChaos said:
As such, it is generally looking a lot more lush and healthy, but still the stripes do not stay for more than a few days.
The stripe effect is simply because the blades of grass are pushed over. With time they spring back, that's nature.How about applying a little fertilizer in careful bands for a more permament stripe look?
Still looks like it's cut quite/too short.
Ours cut last week.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/60oxmyqa5wypdok/Photo%20...
Ours cut last week.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/60oxmyqa5wypdok/Photo%20...
Edited by rich83 on Saturday 19th July 09:17
Definitely cut too short, since there is no "nap" to bend over with the movement of the roller over the sward.
If you are using your mower as a rough cut mower, too, then your blades need sharpening. Stop using it as a rough cut mower, since the blade edges will have been damaged and instead of cutting the leaf, it tears the leaf. This promotes the yellowing of the tips, since instead of being sheared, they have been torn off.
If you are using your mower as a rough cut mower, too, then your blades need sharpening. Stop using it as a rough cut mower, since the blade edges will have been damaged and instead of cutting the leaf, it tears the leaf. This promotes the yellowing of the tips, since instead of being sheared, they have been torn off.
Bill said:
Blakeatron said:
The stripes stayed for a week easily - every weekend the stripes would change direction and once when mum and dad were away we tried a spiral using a stake and rope, it failed and dad went mental
grumpyscot said:
I always wanted stripes on my lawn - and succeeded to the extend that 5 of my neighbours and 3 relatives all bought the same mower that achieves it - a Bosch Rotak.
Isn't that an ELECTRIC mower? You need to give yourself a good talking to...some things are unforgivable 
ManFromDelmonte said:
Anyway Matt, what's the news?
Not much. Still striping faintly, as it needs a good fertilising. I keep nagging the parents to buy a lawn spreader, as last time I tried fertilisng by scattering it from the packet, I ended up with lots of lush green zigzags up and down the lawn 
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
True. Real mowers have a V8 as a minimum, preferably supercharged.
Dont be silly, chap.Real mowers look like this:
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