When I had a crew cutting it for me, they used Hustler mowers and always had nice stripes when done.
I didn't see the same results when I got my mower this year so I then added the rubber flap striping kit by JD. Still didn't look like the landscape crew; I asked them if they used striping kit and they do not.
I've heard a million theories on this, but nothing seems to work. I even have the rubber flap in its lowest position. It shows some slight striping but not much different than w/o the flap.
Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong or is it just have to do with the deck physics? Meaning air flow, etc? I can't imagine why the rubber flap wouldn't give similar results than the landscape crew when essentially you are just pushing the grass down in opposite directions when you make a pass.
I mow at 4 inches or more on my tall fescue using a home made wobble roller for stripes. You need to have enough height to lay the grass over. I mow on a 45 degree to lot shape. I will do two consecutive mowing in the same direction and the next two at a 45 crossing the the originals. Makes a nice deep checker board when the sun is right, but no matter where the sun is you can always see stripes. Occasionally I will mow with the lot shape to add another layer makes more of a diamond shape checker then a square.
Yeah my guess would be cutting too short or not consistently running in the same place and direction. I usually alternate between 3 different patterns and run the same track and direction on each of them as I alternate between them. Over time it tends to "burn them in" and make them more pronounced. I don't use a striping kit. Follow the light green stripes, not the dark ones or you will "erase" them.
