OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Hey guys-

I successfully managed to stripe my lawn this morning at 3.5 inches. It looked beautiful! I went over each stripe 3-5 times and when I got done it looked great. I have 2 pics but doesn’t look like I can upload them from my phone. Anyways- here we are 8 hours later and the stripes are largely gone!?!?! I can still see them but they are nowhere as defined as they were 8 hours ago. My neighbor across the street stripes his lawn and it stays that way for several days!

What gives!?!?
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Sun & sun angle. They'll likely be back tomorrow. It's the light refracting differently on the grass blades laying in different directions that gives the effect. And you can upload from your phone but the whole process is a bit tricky at first.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Thanks. I hope so- I put a lot of work into it!! I know as I mow the same stripe the same direction each time I will gradually train the grass but for right now I’m hoping to get at least a couple days out of it.

I wish my schedule allowed me time to mow everyday. I’d go over those stripes each day for a whole week.
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Now you need to work on doing your stripes so that it looks like you went straight through trees and other obstacles. That's kind of fun.
Or getting a perfect checkerboard with stripes at 90 degrees. For some reason a lot of my customers like the 45 degree diagonal stripes. And yes I know that your slopes limit which directions you can cut.

There is a stripes thread on here somewhere.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Now you need to work on doing your stripes so that it looks like you went straight through trees and other obstacles. That's kind of fun.
Or getting a perfect checkerboard with stripes at 90 degrees. For some reason a lot of my customers like the 45 degree diagonal stripes. And yes I know that your slopes limit which directions you can cut.

There is a stripes thread on here somewhere.

I have 2 trees on the side that’s easier to cut. I was thinking about pulling them and putting them somewhere else on the property so they’re not in my way haha. I’ve actually wanted to do this since I bought the house but now have the motivation.

The current problem is the Bob-Cat has damaged the ramp to my shed where the ramp sits on the lip of the shed across the doorway so the mower is in the garage now stinking it up smelling like grass. .

It’s always something!
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
For going around a trees- can I go up to the tree then raise the deck with my foot while going around the tree and put the deck back down once on the other side of the tree?
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
For going around a trees- can I go up to the tree then raise the deck with my foot while going around the tree and put the deck back down once on the other side of the tree?

Sure if there's roots or a hump there at the base of the tree. I do it all the time to keep from scalping dirt/roots. I had to raise my steering levers all the way up when I got my Bob-Cat so I could do just that. Otherwise my knees got in the way - I'm tall and have long legs. I often rest my right foot on the deck lift pedal when mowing in areas with lots of roots, rocks, etc.

What I usually do is go halfway around the tree with my trim side one way then halfway around again with the trim side on the way back. Then I go back and "erase" the first one where I went into the lane of stripe next to it by running that whole stripe again. It's not necessary to do that on the 2nd one because it's an uncut area and you're going to go over it again anyway. So basically the tree is in the middle of where your deck overlap is. But I think it looks more cool if you head straight at it then go around it and leave people wondering how the stripe is on both sides of it as if you ran it right over, lol. I always try to have my stripes continue as if the obstacle wasn't there.

I always cut at least 2 widths around the outside of the lawn area i'm cutting going clockwise (throwing grass in) first, then run my rows and if it's a high-end lawn I'll go back and run around the outside again to "frame" my stripes and erase my tracks from my turns. Usually I just have to do that on the inner of my perimeter cuts because I can turn around no problem in one mower width. The perimeter cut is mostly to keep clipping out of beds, and off the driveway, sidewalk and road. Where I am that's how pros cut lawns, the ones who want to keep high-end accounts anyway. The problem I have here is that you can't help but stripe the lawn (unless it's really crappy/scruffy), so all that stuff shows up. And of course when you're all done, run back to shed/garage/truck down one of your stripes in the right direction rather than run across them. I even make sure there's no foot prints across the lawn from trimming. Making a lawn look top notch is about the details...anyone can cut grass. :biggrin:
 
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Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Good tips- thanks. The one thing I forgot to do today is erase my turn marks on my cut in. I did cut in 2 deck widths to give myself plenty of room to turn so I don’t tear the turf up. The way my schedule is tomorrow I have a 50/50 chance of being able to get back out and go over the stripes again.
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Let's not get too crazy here Rob. If you run your lawn over that much you're going to compact the crap out of it and get ruts and dead grass where the tires run. It's pretty easy to make a striping flap or roller - I've never bothered.
 
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