How to Mow Stripes in Your Lawn

Before you begin the striping process, you’ll need to ensure that you have the right grass for the job. Not all grass, albeit planted well and level, can be striped.

Cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass, are best for lawn striping because of their flexibility and fine leaf blades. They can stay flat after rolling and aren’t rigid like warm-season grasses. Warm-season grasses like Bermudagrass and Zoysiagrass, aren’t suitable because of their stiff and rigid texture.

Creating stripes in your lawn requires that your lawn mower blades are sharp, and your mower is at a high setting. This helps your grass get cut neatly, encourage easy bending, and create a dramatic pattern.

The striping process requires an add-on compatible to your mower, to apply weight to bend the grass. This could require purchasing a lawn roller that attaches to the rear of your mower (a tow-behind or push roller), or a lawn striping kit that comes with a lawn roller and mounting hardware.

Before starting, remove any objects on your lawn. Find a straight line in your surroundings to follow, such as a driveway, path, or fence, and mow the first stripe parallel to it. Ensure your grass is dry when striping.

When coming to the end of the stripe, lift the mower deck and pivot the mower in the opposite direction. Mow another stripe adjacent to the first. Keep the grass 2.5 to 4 inches tall.

For checkerboard striping, follow the steps as you would for a straight striped lawn. Then, mow a second set of stripes perpendicular, at right angles, to the first set. To hide any turn marks, you can mow a strip around the perimeter of your yard.

For diagonal patterns, mow around the perimeter and mow two rows of stripes in alternating directions. Then, mow two rows of diagonal stripes in alternating directions. Finish off by moving around the perimeter once again.  

Once you feel confident striping your lawn, you can experiment with other mowing patterns. To stripe circles in your lawn, begin by mowing around the perimeter of your lawn twice.

Turn off your mower and move it to the center of where you want to create your first circle. Start your mower and make the smallest circle, then continue mowing circles one after the other in alternating directions to get the light and dark stripe contrast. Make sure there aren’t un-mowed areas between the circles.

Finally, mow a final stripe around the perimeter of the yard once again.

When maintaining your lawn, mow as often as needed to keep your grass between 2.5 to 4 inches. Depending on the season, you could mow every one to two weeks, or less frequently, every two to five weeks. If you mow your grass too frequently, the grass may be too short, and you could lose the intensity of the pattern.

During every other session of striping, alternate your stripe patterns and direction to ensure your grass won’t be permanently flattened. This might mean mowing east-west stripes instead of north-south stripes or even diagonal stripes.

Additionally, following the right instructions for lawn striping allows you to benefit from a healthier lawn. Mowing your lawn in two different directions helps create a uniform lawn, as all blades of grass get enough sunlight to thrive.