The Secret Behind Lawn Stripes

Stripes are all about how light hits the grass blades. When light hits grass blades leaning away from you, the grass appears light in color. When light hits blades leaning toward you, the grass appears darker. The light-dark contrast that is the hallmark of great lawn striping is achieved by simply bending grass blades to reflect light in a specific way.

Professional groundskeepers have commercial mowers with specialized rollers to create stripes. Good news—you can do nearly the same thing with a standard lawn mower. Most lawn mowers have a safety shield at the back of the mower deck that stops flying debris and prevents operator injury. The safety shield acts as a roller, bending the grass slightly as it passes over it. Or you can use a striping kit to enhance the effect.

How to Make Lawn Stripes

Begin by choosing a linear direction in which you want to mow your lawn. It might be north to south or on a diagonal. The direction doesn’t matter. What does matter when making stripes is consistency in direction.

If you mow north to south for mowing pass number one, pass number two is south to north. As you continue mowing back and forth in this methodical way, turn tightly at the end of each pass. Then begin the next pass parallel to the last pass, right where you left off. Overlap slightly to avoid gaps.

Details matter when making stripes. Allow plenty of space near the edge of the lawn to make a clean turn to start the next stripe well. Some people prefer to mow around the perimeter of their lawn first, then start making stripes. This creates a clean border where you can turn your mower around.

Working around trees and landscape beds can be difficult. Give them plenty of berth; mower blades can cause lasting damage to trees and shrubs. And have a plan for how you will exit your striping pattern so you don’t have to run over it and ruin your hard work.

mowing grass with red lawn mower and leaving grass clippings behind

Beyond Striping: the Checkerboard

After you master making stripes on your lawn, try your skill at making a checkerboard pattern. While checkerboard patterns on golf courses and baseball fields are time-consuming, the at-home version is easy. Make a checkerboard design by mowing stripes into your turf at a 90-degree angle from your last striping. For example, if you mowed north to south last week, mow the grass east to west this week. The result is a subtle checkerboard pattern.

Sharp mower blades make clean cuts, contributing to the manicured look of striping. Sharpen mower blades at least twice per season.

Varying Your Striping Pattern

Repeatedly striping a lawn with the same pattern will stress the turf. Frequent passes over the same path lead to soil compaction, which inhibits turf growth due to the roots not being able to freely access water and nutrients. Wheel ruts and aboveground turf damage can become a problem, too, when the lawn mower is turning in the same place repeatedly.

Vary the striping pattern every mowing for a healthier lawn. You might stripe north to south for a couple of mowing sessions and then stripe on the diagonal across your lawn. Continue to vary the pattern throughout the growing season.