Have wondered about this when I drive to Lexington, ky from winchester. Everyone mows yards and pastures but a few have stripes in yard. Is this going up and down the yard, going opposite directions when mowing. Or does it involve a roller being pulled behind the mower and cutting opposite directions? Found can now with a 60" mowing deck in an hour for whole yard versus 90 for just front yard with 48" crapsman.
Odd mowing question
- Thread starter dfh1977
- Start date
You can use a roller, though some mowers like flails and reels have a roller as a rear guide wheel of sorts and do it automatically.
Woody Martin
New member
Equipment
2013 L3200 HST, 66" Loader, R-4's, L/P 1672 , L/P Box grader, L/P 1572 Rear Blad
It's going one way, turning around, and mowing the other way next to where you just mowed. Pretty but lost time. Give it a try.
If you want your lawn striped you can take a piece of belting (like used on a baler) and bolt it on the backside of your deck. Mount it so it's an inch or so above grade.
You can buy the belting by the foot at most farm supply stores. Simple, easy, low cost. If you don't like it you can remove it or adjust it easily.
You can buy the belting by the foot at most farm supply stores. Simple, easy, low cost. If you don't like it you can remove it or adjust it easily.
Rob
Member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
B6000DT / B7100DP /B8200DT/L225/Globe PTO Chipper/Lewis Backhoe/huxley TR66
As a long standing grounds person i can offer you this in advice in reply.
The stripped effect seen on lawns can be obtained in various ways, but please keep this in mind , just rolling or dragging a brush in alternative directions will give you the stripped effect as it flattens the grass blades down in a given direction of travel and the the effect of daylight on the blades results in the stripped pattern.
The down side is the grass will soon return itself to an upright position, maybe within a few hours at worse case , but you will probably get a day or so if lucky, if the weather is warm and sunny its going to to stand up again quickly.
If however you use a good cylinder mower with a heavy rear roller on a regular basis the grass blades will start to get used to being rolled and cut in that direction and the stripes will last for some time .
rotary mowers will work but due to the nature of the cutting device the grass blades after being cut are allmost twisted around under the cutting deck in a circular motion before being either sucked out the back or side or just left behind the deck as guttings, you will not get any stripes this way unless you have a roller of some description behind the cutting device.
A reel mower or cylinder mower has the advantage here as the cutting cylinder works in the same way as a pair of scissors by cutting the grass blades between to blades and then the roller follows and leaves you the stripe, but the cutting action of this method combined with the rolling does make for a better lawn cut and of course stripe effect.
I cut a lot of grass here (3-4 acres of formal lawns) every 4 dyas with a prof cylinder mower and it is very , very heavy , it leaves an outstanding cut and finish with stripes that last well into the next mowing session.
the downside is that to keep the grass looking at its best the direction of travel/cut has to be changed regulary to prevent wear on at the turning points etc and to keep the blades of grass in good shape, cutting in the same direction for to long will give you nice stripes that last, but the grass needs to be cut from differing directions to ensure a continued quality of cut .
At the end of the day the stripe effect is a just that, an effect , its a by product of lawn mowing with a roller or just rolling/brushing.
hope that helps a bit, just my input from 35 years experiance.
The stripped effect seen on lawns can be obtained in various ways, but please keep this in mind , just rolling or dragging a brush in alternative directions will give you the stripped effect as it flattens the grass blades down in a given direction of travel and the the effect of daylight on the blades results in the stripped pattern.
The down side is the grass will soon return itself to an upright position, maybe within a few hours at worse case , but you will probably get a day or so if lucky, if the weather is warm and sunny its going to to stand up again quickly.
If however you use a good cylinder mower with a heavy rear roller on a regular basis the grass blades will start to get used to being rolled and cut in that direction and the stripes will last for some time .
rotary mowers will work but due to the nature of the cutting device the grass blades after being cut are allmost twisted around under the cutting deck in a circular motion before being either sucked out the back or side or just left behind the deck as guttings, you will not get any stripes this way unless you have a roller of some description behind the cutting device.
A reel mower or cylinder mower has the advantage here as the cutting cylinder works in the same way as a pair of scissors by cutting the grass blades between to blades and then the roller follows and leaves you the stripe, but the cutting action of this method combined with the rolling does make for a better lawn cut and of course stripe effect.
I cut a lot of grass here (3-4 acres of formal lawns) every 4 dyas with a prof cylinder mower and it is very , very heavy , it leaves an outstanding cut and finish with stripes that last well into the next mowing session.
the downside is that to keep the grass looking at its best the direction of travel/cut has to be changed regulary to prevent wear on at the turning points etc and to keep the blades of grass in good shape, cutting in the same direction for to long will give you nice stripes that last, but the grass needs to be cut from differing directions to ensure a continued quality of cut .
At the end of the day the stripe effect is a just that, an effect , its a by product of lawn mowing with a roller or just rolling/brushing.
hope that helps a bit, just my input from 35 years experiance.
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Rob
Member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
B6000DT / B7100DP /B8200DT/L225/Globe PTO Chipper/Lewis Backhoe/huxley TR66
It is only wasting time if you, (1) dont really need the stripe effect, (2) you do want or need the stripe but have to roll in a 2nd operation.
If you are mowing without the facility to roll as you cut and you require for what ever reasons the stripe, and , you dont want to have to be rolling or brushing etc afterwards , then you'll need to get yourself the kit to perform both tasks at the same time.
I have a good range of mowing kit here that i use for numerous mowing and cutting tasks, i choose the right kit for the job that way it saves doubling up and the lanws etc look spot on.
On larger areas where the stripe is required i use a hydraulic reel mower, with 3 cutting heads, each has its own roller , i get a nice short cut and nice wide stripes 6' wide.
smaller lawns i use a 40 year old ransomes matador 24" cylinder mower, its a prof quality machine and it shows in the end cut finish, it leaves modern day kit way behind, takes two strong men to just lift it of the floor let alone load it higher than waist height.
good luck with it
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If you really really really want to stripe a lawn the proper way you can buy a roller kit to mount on the rear of the deck. Just Google lawn mower striping kit. Heard of some guys taking a mud flap from a truck and bolting it to the deck too.