Lawn Striping Kits Guide
Everyone loves the look of a beautifully-striped lawn. So, how does lawn striping work, and are those DIY lawn striping kits worth it?
A beautifully-striped lawn shows that you have skill with equipment and you’ve got the time or money to put into a beautiful yard. Until recently, this meant mowing your lawn in an attractive pattern. Actual lawn striping, which meant using dedicated equipment to stripe your lawn, was the realm of professionals.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about lawn striping and lawn striping kits!
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The basic principle behind lawn striping is simple. All plants have two sides to their leaves or blades. One side has a matte finish, and the other side is glossy. You can see this on any leaf you pick up on the ground, and the same applies to each blade of grass.
Both sides of the blade are more or less the same color, but the waxy side reflects more light than the matte side. When you bend the blades one way or another, stripes appear. This happens by accident, even if you’re just running a walking mower back and forth.
Striping is more effective on flexible grasses, which retain more water and tend to grow in colder climates. Similarly, the blades need to be long enough to bend. For most breeds, this will mean a minimum height of two inches. Lower than that, and the blades won’t have enough flex to show off your striping to full effect.
How complex you want the pattern to be depends on how ambitious you are. For most people, this means starting with a simple striped pattern. The trick is to achieve straight, parallel lines at a consistent width. You can do this by cutting a border around your yard to provide a space for turning.
If you want to get more advanced, you can mow in a grid pattern. To achieve this look, simply repeat the striping, but from a perpendicular direction. Similarly, you can create diagonal stripes by changing the axis of your mowing direction. This requires a keener eye and more patience, but it’s something anybody can do at home.
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There’s a commonly-held myth that lawn striping is bad for your grass. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, by ensuring that different sides of the blades are exposed, the blades will be healthier and greener. Not only that, but striping helps to expose shorter blades that would be shaded by taller blades in an irregular pattern. This keeps all blades of grass well-exposed, so you get more consistent growth.
That said, there’s a grain of truth in those myths. Namely, if you’re always striping a patch of grass in the same direction, it will become unhealthy. Always mowing in the same direction can cause the grass to become matted. It also negates the advantage of exposing both sides of the grass since only one side of the grass will be exposed in any given spot.
The solution to this is to change up your pattern. Reverse it if possible, or even start in a different spot. Doing this will ensure that each blade of grass isn’t always bent in the same direction. Not only that but changing things up will make the mowing experience more pleasant.
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A lawn striping kit is a simple weight or bar that drags behind your mower. A typical push mower will have a rubber flap behind it, and a riding mower won’t even have that. This means there’s a limit to how far the grass will bend. Attaching a striping kit to the back of your mower will cause the grass to bend further, making the striped effect more pronounced.
What is the best lawn striper? At the end of the day, the best lawn striping kit will depend on your mower. The main thing is that it’s the correct width. So, for example, a 22-inch push mower needs a small striping kit, while a 60-inch riding mower needs a significantly larger one. The price will vary according to size. For a small mower, you can pick up a striping kit for 10 or 20. For a larger one, you can easily exceed 100 or even 150.
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Are DIY Lawn Striping Kits Worth the Effort?
As you may have gathered, a lawn striping kit doesn’t have to be professionally made. It doesn’t even have to be complicated; it just has to be the right width for your mower. As long as it’s the right size and you can attach it with rope or chain, you’re ready to go. You can use just about any material you want. Fill a PVC pipe with sand and cap it off. Rig up some heavy-duty rubber mats or a stall mat to drag behind your riding mower. Pretty much any hefty object will do.
important is using the right technique. This takes time and practice. Remember, a skilled landscaper can get beautiful results even from the worst tools. Conversely, even the best equipment won’t do much good if your mowing technique isn’t up to snuff.
Finally, regardless of whether you buy a kit or build your own, your grass health remains the number one most important factor in your lawn’s appearance. If your yard is covered in brown spots and clover patches, you’d be better off addressing those issues before you spend any money on striping. Once your lawn is green and lush, striping provides a beautiful finishing touch.
Tips For Striping Your Lawn Like A Pro
While most of us just wonder how we can get a lush, green-looking lawn some people have moved past that and mastered the art of striping their lawns. We’ve all admired the lawn striping at sports stadiums and golf courses with patterns ranging from checkerboards and diagonals to zig zags. While you don’t need an industrial-sized mower to make that happen in your own backyard, you do need to attach a lawn striping kit to your push lawnmower.
Before we talk about the method, let’s look at what’s actually happening to give a lawn that striped look. If you’ve ever swiped your hand across a piece of velvet, you will have noticed that the fabric looks lighter-colored in one direction and darker in the other. It’s the same thing with grass. Scag Power Equipment explains that it all depends on which direction you’re looking from as to whether the grass looks dark or light. This is because the blades of grass catch the light differently depending on which way they’re bent. So get ready to set the bar high for your neighbors with the best tips to stripe your lawn like a pro.
Let there be stripes!
Since the blades of grass have to bend in order to really see the stripes, your lawn has to be of a certain length. Cool season varieties, like fescue, rye or bluegrass are better suited for this than others, explains the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Taller and thicker grass makes the striping effect more noticeable so it’s important to keep the weeds out and let the grass grow up to 2 to 4 inches high before mowing, per Executive Lawn Care. The direction that the sun hits the blades of grass will also determine how strongly the stripes stand out — when the sun is directly overhead, they won’t be as noticeable as when the sunlight hits the grass at an angle.
Ryan Knorr Lawn Care demonstrates how he gets the grass to bend using the Toro Lawn Striping System that attaches to any Toro mower. As you can see from the photo above, the lawn is beautifully striped!
It’s all about the weight
There are several companies that manufacture lawn striping systems, also called kits, and there are various videos that show you how to make your own lawn striper using a PVC tube, such as this one from Ryan Knorr Lawn Care. A couple of the details to consider with a lawn striping system is the ease of maneuverability when you pull your mower back or when you try to mow around features in the garden.
Whether you buy a lawn striping roller or make your own, you will have to add sand or gravel to create the weight. Make sure to have a funnel on hand to make it faster and easier. According to Toro, you’ll need to add 25 to 33 pounds depending on the density of the dry sand or gravel that you use. A lawn striping system that you attach to the back of your push mower cost costs between 100 and 200, depending on the brand. According to Big League Lawns, if you have a riding, tractor, or stand-on mower, you can also buy lawn striping attachments that typically range from 300 to 400.
How to get your strip started
Before you try the more complicated zig-zag pattern recommended by the Roosted Lawn Company, you will need to master the basics of a straight up and down pattern. Start by mowing the perimeter edge of your yard with, or without the roller kit attached to your mower. Then, mow up and down the full length of your yard in parallel, straight lines. When you’ve finished, mow the perimeter once again to get rid of any of the lines that were made as you turned the mower.
If you want to experiment with designs, another easy pattern to try is a checkerboard. this picks up where you left off after mowing up and down in one direction. You’re now going to start at the perimeter of your yard and mow across the lines in the opposite direction. Always finish by mowing once again around the perimeter to smooth out any irregular marks.
Wavy patterns add dimension
When you’re ready to try a more challenging stripe, like a wavy line or a zig zag, keep in mind the line of sight from where you or your neighbors will be able to see the pattern. While lawn striping is all about adding curb appeal, there is an element of getting everyone to see how good your lawn looks! According to Toro, if you create a pattern that is parallel to where you are standing, it will look more dramatic.
When you start to mow, look ahead at an object in the distance to help you mow a straighter line. If you want to create a circular pattern, for instance, around a tree, start at the feature rather than at the perimeter. Each time you complete a circle, turn and circle back the other way. In the end, you’ll create a bulls-eye pattern. For a wavy pattern, you can use the end of a garden or a driveway as your sight line and just make a gentle waving pattern as you mow. When you turn back to mow in the other direction, use one side of the previous stripe to follow the same wave.
Healthy care tips for your lawn
According to Spartan Mowers, lawn striping promotes healthier lawns, because varying the direction in the way the grass is cut means that the sun won’t always hit the grass in just one way. For the same reason, you should also vary the striping pattern every two weeks, which also prevents ruts from forming from the mower. Always mow your lawn when the grass is dry so it doesn’t get torn or matted by the mower. In addition, mowing in the morning isn’t the best time of day because there may still be dew on the grass.
A few other tips to keep your lawn healthy and looking good are to mow with a sharp blade, and only remove the top third of the grass blades, suggests Simplicity. Don’t mow your lawn when it’s dealing with a drought or very hot weather — if your grass is brown and crunchy, it probably doesn’t need to be mowed. If you have to mow when the weather is hot, do it in the early evening when the sun starts to set, which gives your lawn time to recover overnight out of the direct sunlight.
Ferris Striping Kit
Ferrislawnmowerparts.com has all of your Ferris Striping Kits. As an authorized dealer for Ferris mowers and parts, we have everything you need to accessorize your Ferris Mower. A striping kit is a weighted bar that pulls behind your mower to press the grass down further. This will allow you to get a grid pattern or a diagonal-pattern on your lawn. Fortunately, we provide Ferris striping kits that will provide you with those sharp, crisp lines.
We recommend you verify which part is correct for your particular Ferris mower. First, enter your model number by using our convenient Parts Lookup and Part Diagrams. Secondly, select the appropriate diagram. Third, select the appropriate part and quantity, then add it to your cart. However, should you be unable to find what you are looking for, please contact us via email or 800-866-5473.
After your order is placed, we will keep you informed of its status including notification when it ships. importantly, our growing partnership with UPS allows us to offer reasonable shipping rates throughout the U.S. We proudly offer free shipping on orders of 75 or more however, over sized packages will have a small additional charge.
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Product Description
Create dazzling and eye-appealing stripe patterns on your lawn while simultaneously mowing it for a well-manicured look with this Generation 3 Lawn Stryper. Lawn Striping System for GREENWORKS / DeWALT / Makita / MILWAUKEE TOOL Mowers.
Designed for attachment on most Greenworks Pro battery-powered 21″ residential walk-behind lawn mowers with round handle bars ONLY, this lawn striping system can be installed in 15 minutes or less using a Phillips or flat head screwdriver. It also is compatible with DeWALT, Makita, and Milwaukee Tool 20″-22″ battery-powered residential walk-behind lawn mowers. Once properly installed on the back of your lawn mower, the Lawn Stryper properly bends grass blades after they are cut, producing stripes on your lawn similar to those on major league baseball fields, golf courses, or other professional athletic sports fields with mesmerizing curb appeal.
The Generation 3 Lawn Stryper allows you to mow and stripe your lawn simultaneously, with the ability to create various stripe patterns including straight patterns, wave patterns, diamond patterns, double / single patterns, circle patterns, checkboard patterns, and more to highlight your lawn and make you the envy of the neighborhood.
Some improvements made to the Generation 3 Lawn Stryper Lawn Striping System include a grooved roller for more consistent striping, a new clamp design that is bigger and stronger, new vertical bars to add versatility in the user setup, and a new insert system for compatibility with most battery-powered 20″-22″ walk-behind lawn mowers.
The act of ‘patterning’ or ‘striping‘ your lawn results from properly bending grass so light reflects differently off the blades of grass. If you look at a patterned or striped lawn, the grass leaning away looks lighter and grass leaning forwards looks darker. Some grass types will accentuate the patterning and striping effects. Cool season grass types typically pattern more easily compared to warm season grass types. There are some areas in the United States where lawn patterning is not as easily achievable due to the type of grass. Please refer to the ‘Zone Map’ in the images or the patterning guide in the ‘Resources’ section for more information about lawn patterning.
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