Hi Everyone,
I have a raised bed box of Congo Watermelons on one end and Black Diamond on the other end of the box. They each have jumped out of the box and are now spreading out on the ground. This is fine as there is plenty of room. I was putting down some straw mulch this morning and found baby watermelons on each variety.
I have fertilized a couple of times with 10-10-10 fertilizer and a couple of times with Nitrate of Soda (32-0-0). Now that the melons are forming I know that I need to switch to a fertilizer that is high in Phosphorus and Potassium. I was thinking of mixing up some Texas Tomato Food and pouring at the base of the plants.
Anyone use TTM in this way or would something else be better? The melons are about the size of a very small egg. I was delayed planting these as I wanted these specific varieties and had to wait on the seed order.
Thanks,
Deb

Those are nice watermelons.

If all you need is phosphorus and potassium, monopotassium phosphate (0-52-34) is pretty awesome.

Another good alternative is a mixture of monoammonium phosphate and potassium sulfate (that way you can decide how much potassium and how much phosphorus you get, and it includes sulfur and a little nitrogen, too).

I'm not familiar with using Texas Tomato Food, but I've heard of it.

Thanks Shule!
Any sources for monopotassium phosphate (0-52-34)?

Thanks,
Deb

[mention]friedgreen51[/mention]

You're welcome, and yes! I highly recommend Greenway Biotech for it. I've gotten it from them more than once, and it's good quality. Free shipping, too; takes about two days.

I've been using TTF on two Sugar Baby watermelon plants and I think they are doing well. I counted 11 melons yesterday. That is way too many so we pruned down to 5 we have in the raised bed and one small one we pruned was cut open just to see what it looked like and it was actually ripe! I should have taken a pic. This is the first year I've ever grown them. So they seem to be doing all right on the TTF so far.
~Emmie

I believe TTF can be used for any large or resource-intensive veg or fruit (squash, cucumbers, etc) -- I just checked their web page and it specifically lists melons, so I think you can safely use it!

I gave each plant about a gallon of TTF because I had it on hand. Since I first checked them they have gone from small egg size to the size of a baseball. They seem to be doing well. I haven't watered them as we have had 6.25 inches of rain from July 19th to July 26th.
Thanks everyone for the input. Glad to know that the TTF has worked for others.