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Heat Tolerance

Heat Tolerance and Titan Rx

How's it work?

It’s one thing to have a very hot day. It’s another thing to have a stretch of days where both daytime and nighttime temperatures are oppressive. Cool season grasses, like tall fescue, do not perform well in these situations. In order to survive, they must protect themselves. All energy is put into survival. Shallow-rooted species and weaker varieties simply don’t make it.

Titan Rx is different. While still a cool-season variety, Titan Rx finds a way to survive, so that when the hot spell is over, there are more plants left in the stand to regrow. And thanks to its self-repairing rhizomes and aggressive tillers, there is even more chance that bare spots will naturally fill in.


Here’s the Proof

In 2010, at a research site in Griffin, Georgia, 113 tall fescue varieties were being evaluated. That summer was one for the record-books, with over 40 days of temperatures above 90°F! While all plots were set back and went into survival mode, many could not take the heat. An extended hot, dry fall didn’t make it any easier for plots to recover. By December of 2010, the differences were clearly visible.

However, Titan Rx, had high plant counts and good density. In fact, it was one of only a small minority of plots, out of the 113 NTEP entries, that maintained their density and quality. By the next May the real results showed themselves: many varieties were still showing damage, but Titan Rx looked great! Heat tolerance makes a difference!

June 2010

Prior to the Summer of 2010, all 113 entries looked pretty good.

December 2010

AFTER the summer and extended warm fall, Titan Rx (plot on right) still looks good; but others have literally been burned out.

May 2011

By the end of the following May, Titan Rx (plot on right) really shows the benefit of heat tolerance. Note other plots now look very clumpy and have large bare spots.

Download Heat Tolerant Data Sheet