Lawnmower Wheel Compaction – Weeds

Q: While walking in my neighborhood, I saw a weird stripe pattern in my neighbor’s lawn. What do you think caused it?

A: I posted this on Facebook and received many guesses.

The correct answer?

The neighbors report that they have used the same lawn mowing company for 25 years. As you can see in the first photo, the lawn slopes from the street to the house, making it difficult to mow any way other than parallel to the street. I think 25 years of mower wheels going over the same place repeatedly would compact the soil. And weeds LOVE compacted soil while zoysia hates it!

I declare this mystery solved: soil compaction leading to weed growth.