Lawn Mowing- Stripes

Q: How do folks cut a lawn so it has dark and light stripes. I have a newly-sodded fescue lawn and I want mine to look like that.

A: If you’ve rubbed velvet cloth you’ve seen the difference made by having the cloth fibers lay in different directions. To make a lawn have stripes like at a ball park, you have to roll, press or comb it down in the opposite direction with each trip across your lawn. One way to accomplish this is to drag a “welcome mat” behind your mower. The cut grass gets a “nap”, just as you see when you rub velvet. The opposite nap of the grass in adjacent mowed strips reflects light differently and makes the stripes you enjoy.