Titan Rx
Turf-Type Tall Fescue
Legendary Turf Continues
Titan Rx turf-type tall fescue is a fourth-generation Titan variety. Enhanced with even more resistance to heat, drought, cold, and disease, Titan Rx offers you an even more durable lawn, ideal for both sun and shade!
Find a dealerVariety Summary
Even when conditions are less than ideal, the Titans are well-known and valued for providing durable, attractive turf. Titan Rx turf-type tall fescue is the 4th generation Titan variety.
It continues the Titan legacy by combining all the excellent features of the previous parentage with further selections for improved color, even stronger resistance to brown patch, heat, drought, and winter, as well as increased rhizome growth. Titan Rx also has excellent shade tolerance, making it a very versatile variety. Titan Rx is a recommended variety in Virginia and Maryland.
Whether planting it straight or using it in a mix, such as our popular T.L.C. Tall Fescue Blend, Titan Rx is a great choice.
Features
Grows in Sun & Shade
Titan Rx was developed to thrive in full sun areas with intense solar pressure, rapid moisture evaporation, and warm ground temperatures. Titan Rx also has exceptional shade tolerance.
Heat Tolerant
Titan Rx can take the heat! In 2010, during an intensely hot summer in Griffin, Georgia, Titan Rx outperformed many other fescue varieties.
Rhizomes & Recovery
Titan Rx, selected from the original Titan Ltd., produces even more self-repairing rhizomes and aggressive tillers, enabling it better recovery, density, and the ability to fill in bare spots.
Disease Resistant
Titan Rx was bred with improved disease resistance against many diseases including brown patch, red thread, and rust. Like its predecessors, Titan Rx shows itself to be a strong resistor with great come-back ability.
Pest Resistant
Titan Rx has a natural built-in, safe pesticide called endophyte which repels damaging insects.
Great Color
Titan Rx has an attractive medium-dark green color making it perfect for new lawns, and overseeding existing lawns. Not too light and not too dark—just right!
Dense & Upright
Titan Rx provides high density, helping reduce weed infestation and promote upright attractive turf, due in part to its aggressive tillers and self-repairing rhizomes.
Deep Roots
Titan Rx plants go deep! Its extensive and deep root system is key to survival in the shade as well as in the sun. They also help reduce soil erosion.
Sun and Shade
Sun
Titan Rx was developed to thrive in full sun areas with intense solar pressure, rapid moisture evaporation, and warm ground temperatures. Its deep roots and dense canopy work in harmony to both prevent unnecessary water evaporation as well as capture moisture and nutrients deep down into the soil. Studies have shown that tall fescue can put roots down as deep as six feet.
Shade
Shade tolerance is an important feature, especially for areas with mature landscapes or near buildings where turf is desired on the shady side. Titan Rx also has exceptional shade tolerance. In national turf trials conducted from 2006-2011, Titan Rx demonstrated that it could take shade better than most all other tall fescues. Out of 113 entries, including many popular varieties, Titan Rx had the second-highest score!
Heat Tolerance
How does 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. 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! The photos below are from the NTEP Plots in Griffin, GA.
June 09, 2010: Before the Summer of 2010, all 113 entries looked pretty good.
December 15, 2010: After the summer and extended warm fall, Titan Rx still looks good, but others have literally been burned out.
May 31, 2011: By the end of the following May, Titan Rx shows the benefit of heat tolerance. Note other plots now look very clumpy and have large bare spots.
Rhizomes
The Titans have a reputation similar to what Timex® had with its classic watches. They can “take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’!” Some genetic qualities simply make these grasses get back up and live when other varieties either die or take longer to recover from damage. Whether that damage comes from hard play, intense disease pressure, pets, drought, cold, or other sources, there’s a good chance that your Titan lawn will come out looking good.
So why is that? What’s so special about the Titan grasses?
First of all, as mentioned before, the Titans just come from hardy stock. It’s like trying to answer the question, “Why are the McCrackens always so strong”, or “How come all the Morses can throw a ball so hard?” It just is!
Secondly, the Titans have something that only a few other tall fescues have, an extensive rhizome system. These horizontal underground stems or "rhizomes" spread out to bare spots and send out new shoots and roots which aid in quicker repair and the ongoing thickening of the turf stand. Sometimes tough play, a neighborhood dog, or some bad disease may come through and wipe out a few plants, potentially leaving your lawn with bare spots. So even when your Titan lawn gets knocked around some, the rhizomes constantly act as self-repairing tools, ready and willing to create new plants when needed.
Plants initiated by rhizomes (yellow arrows).
Learn the difference between a seed-initiated plant and a rhizome-initiated plant.
See how Titan Rx rhizomes filled in a 10-inch diameter circle in Virginia Beach, VA.
Rhizomes in Action
Titan Rx Has More!
While Titan Ltd had impressive rhizome-producing ability, Titan Rx has even more. Titan Rx was selected for more aggressive, faster-producing rhizomes, as well as aggressive tillering. Tillering is a process where plants produce more leaves and expand their base above ground. Both tillering and rhizome production help expedite the recovery process should bare spots occur.*
*A note about bare spots: There are many reasons why bare spots occur. Some of these are poor soil conditions, lack of moisture, chemical applications, underground restrictions, etc. Some of these reasons limit the ability of grass to grow or to survive for any length of time. Amending soil or change in management practices are recommended in these cases. Also, larger bare spots are best reseeded, to reduce the chance of increased weed infestation.
Recovery
Titan Rx’s recovery is so good it was recently noted as having one of the best recovery ratings in a traffic tolerance trial at Rutgers University.
Rutgers University
Traffic Stress Recovery Trial
New Jersey
|2010
| Variety | April 28, 2010 - after 190 Days1 | May 14, 2010 - after 206 Days1 |
|---|---|---|
| Top Score | 48.30% | 81.70% |
| Titan Rx | 45.00% | 73.30% |
| Titan Ultra | 38.30% | 71.70% |
| Faith | 33.30% | 68.30% |
| Turbo | 30.00% | 60.00% |
| Kentucky 31 | 53.30% | 56.70% |
| Sidewinder | 21.70% | 45.00% |
| Lsd | 11.80% | 13.40% |
| 1Plots were subjected to traffic stress in October 2009. | ||
| Percent Recovery: 0-100% | ||
| Selected Data. Complete trial data available upon request. | ||
Pest Resistance & The Titans
They go way back
Back in the late 80’s, the original Titan fescue was one of only a few groundbreaking grasses to have its own natural, safe pesticide called endophyte. (In fact, even the Washington Post ran a story on it!) This non-toxic insect deterrent has continued to be a key component in every generation of our Titan grasses.
Over the past two decades, the value of endophytes in grasses has continued to be realized. Researchers have found that endophyte not only deters insects but also reduces weed infestations and assists in drought recovery. Endophyte is very valuable. In fact, within the past five years, endophyte-infected grasses have been used as part of the nation’s airport system to defend against bird collisions with planes!
The way endophytes work is very cool!
While living off its grass plant host, endophytes produce defensive chemicals - alkaloids - that are toxic to enemy insects. One effect of these toxic alkaloids is that the plants taste bad. This causes insects to spend more time moving and less time feeding, thus making the insects more vulnerable to predators and pathogens. Newly hatched larvae and nymphs also are more prone to starve in endophytic lawns.
Additionally, endophyte-infected plants produce lower amounts of aromatic compounds that are known to attract insect pests. In other words, in addition to tasting bad to the bad bugs, endophytes may actually “hide” their host from certain insect enemies. Is that cool or what?
Reasons to love endophyte
- Effective against above-ground insect pests, as well as below-ground insects and plant-parasitic nematodes.
- Increases summer performance and tolerance to drought and heat.
- Helps plants better compete against common weeds and dicots (including crabgrass, dandelions, plantain, and clover).
- Enhances disease resistance by maintaining plant health.
- Increases the range of environmental adaptation.
- Increases seed survival, germination, and establishment.
- Improves performance in poor-quality acidic soils and soils with low phosphorus content.
- All natural and does not diminish over time; reduces the need for frequent pesticide treatments.
What you can do to protect your lawn
Plant endophyte-enhanced grasses like Titan Rx, Titan Ultra, Titan Ltd., T.L.C. Blend, and T.L.C. Plus.
In blends and mixes, make sure that at least one or more of the components have a high level of endophyte. Research has shown that even some endophyte in a turf stand reduces insect populations and damage.
As appropriate, promote overseeding of Kentucky bluegrass mono-stands with endophyte-enhanced perennial ryegrasses. Research has shown that even slice seeding 1-2 lbs/1000 sq. ft. of endophyte-enhanced perennial ryegrass into an existing Kentucky bluegrass stand reduces insect damage. Overseeding in the fall will help provide resistance to billbugs, chinch bugs, and sod webworms the following year.
Critters That Hate Endophyte
If you don’t want these guys around making your lawn look like this, make sure you have endophytic grass on the menu!
- Annual bluegrass weevils
- Armyworms
- Bluegrass billbugs
- Chinch bugs
- Hairy chinch bugs (these must be the chinch bugs ugly cousins!)
- Black and bronzed cutworms
- Greenbug aphids
- Bluegrass and larger sod webworms
- Cranberry girdlers
- Vagabond crambus
- Japanese beetles
- Southern masked chafers
- Clover mites
- Winter grain mites
- Crionemiones sp
- Heliocotylencheus spp.
- Hoplolaimus galeatus
- Pratylenchus spp.
- Longidorus sp.
- Xiphinema sp.
Titan Rx Photos
