Stripe effect on lawn

Hi All,

Newbie to the forum! :flag:

I just rejuvenated my lawn over the summer. It was hard work, removing moss, thatch and aerating and then re-seeding. The grass seeds have taken well and I'm now looking forward to mowing for the first time in a few days.

I wanted to get a stripe affect on the lawn, and was wondering what the best type of lawn mower to achieve this, or any other smart way to improvise to make this happen?

Thanks all.

Kace

 

To get really good stripes, you need a self propelled cylinder mower with height adjustments, one with the maximum number of blades and with a reasonable sized roller at the back. I used to have a Ransomes which many people think are the best, but really it's down to personal choice and how much money you want to spend..

You won't get that effect with a rotary, not only won't they give you proper stripes, it's a ****** to keep them going in a straight line.

I actually prefer a rotary, which I use like a scythe so I get an even look over the whole lawn. I can also run it over my edging pavers on one side and the path on the other. Quick and efficient hardly any "edges" to do and it looks good.
Wouldn't want to be cutting the grass three times a week as I am at present, any other way.

 

To get decent stripes you really need a cylinder mower with a good roller at the rear. The stripe effect is caused by the grass being bent over by the passage of the roller.

 

Thanks all for the recommendations. I'll start to look online for mowers

 

You can actually achieve stripes with an old-fashioned garden roller, popular when there were only cylinder mowers, no rotaries.
It's funny but I don't know anyone who now has one.

 

In addition to a cylinder mower, I've also got a Flymo 'Vision Compact 330' - which actually gives very reasonable 'stripes'.

 

On the subject of mowing, they used to mow the greens on our golf course with self-propelled hand mowers. Modern technology and cost has made that no longer necessary or economic and they use a big-ride on a Toro mower now, which achieves an extremely even cut and "precision striping."
One of the greens staff told me the other day that a visitor had recently told him he shouldn't be using a ride on mower on a green and he needed a hand mower. He took him round the front of the machine and showed him the machine's logo. "Greensmaster." There's progress for you.