Congo Watermelon

100 days — The rinds are tough, medium green with darker stripes, cylindrical in shape with blunt ends, can reach twelve inches by twenty-five inches, and weigh up to fifty pounds each. 'Congo' does extremely well in Southeastern U.S. and has a medium-red colored flesh with very high sugar content and white seeds.

'Congo' was bred and stabilized by Dr. C. F. Poole and Dr. C. F. Andrus at the Regional Vegetable Breeding Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Charleston, South Carolina from a complex cross between 'Africa' and 'Iowa Belle' with Garrison.^[1,2,3]. The name "Congo" was given this variety to symbolize the continent from which watermelons originated.^[2] It was released in 1949 and an "All-America Selection^®" winner in 1950.^[1] Each packet contains two grams, which is approximately 25 seeds.