watermelons

[Warren]

how do I tell if my watermelons are ripe?

[harleysilo]

I don't know either.

Sounds like one of those "age old questions".

Just cut a small whole in it, fill it up with vodka, plug the whole and let it grow one more day just to be sure!

[Razorback04]

how do I tell if my watermelons are ripe?

but these tips should help.

1. Count the days since they were planted and then compare with the days to maturity for that particular variety.
2. Gently, roll it over and look at the bottom. The white place where the melon has been resting on the ground should turn a creamy-yellow when the melon is ripe.
3. Thump it. Many people believe that the melon takes on a deader sound as it ripens. IMO, this takes a lot of practice and is still not very reliable, but it makes you look like an expert.
4. (My personal favorite) Look at where the stem of the melon joins the vine, and you'll see a tendril (curly thing) growing nearby. When that tendril turns brown and dies, the melon is usually ripe. I find that this is not 100% fool proof, but it's about as reliable as it gets without actually cutting the melon.

[feldon30]

If the skin goes from smooth to slightly rough or "dull" looking, that can be another sign. Also if the top of the melon seems to have somewhat of a sunburn, with a bit of lighter color and roughness.

[sacratomato70]

I have a Sugar Baby type watermelon outside right now with the same question in mind. It does have a creamy yellow color on the bottom and healthy green skin on top. I rotate the melon on the vine so it gets its share of sun . I thoght it would have finished growing but it seems to be getting slighlty bigger (it's about the size of a basketball). I think it is ready, but the plant is so healthy and hardly any brown tendrils around that I might just wait another week.

[feldon30]

Just remember to rotate the melon clockwise on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and counter-clockwise on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You don't want to twist the melon off the vine prematurely.

That joke never gets old.

[Razorback04]

Just curious as to why you're rotating the Sugar Baby? Is it because you want the outside to have a uniform color?

My watermelons are grown in a field and the vines are so thick there's no way of rotating the watermelons even if I wanted to do that.

Basketball size?!?........isn't that pretty large for a Sugar Baby?

I have some Big Crimsons that must be approaching 30 lbs, but they're supposed to get big. My Raspas and AU Producers are avg. 15-20 pounds right now. So far, none have ripened but I'm watching them like a hawk. I did have an AU Producer crack open and it was only pink inside.

[feldon30]

Razorback,

Have you grown Allsweet?

Just curious. I am flirting with the idea of trying melons again.

[Razorback04]

Hi Feldon,

No, I haven't tried Allsweet. This year, I'm growing Big Crimson, Raspa, and AU Producer. They're all 3 Crimson Sweet types, and they all look pretty much alike. Big Crimson and AU Producer are both O.P.'s while the Raspas are hybrids. The odd thing is, the Big Crimson and the AU Producer both look more uniform than the Raspas. I'll try and post some pics when they ripen,which should be in about another week or so. I planted them right around May 1st.

The Big Crimsons look tremendous. I have several melons that will likely top 30 lbs. while the Raspa and AU Producer melons are more in the 20-25 lb. range. Of course, when it comes to watermelons, it's all about the taste, so we'll just have to wait and see who the winner might be in that category.

In addition to sticking with the best tasting of this year's lot, (whichever one that might be) I plan on trying some Sangrias next year. I've heard too many people raving about the taste not to try them. Aren't they pretty similar to the All Sweets?

[feldon30]

I have not grown any melon what I would consider to be "successfully" and I have pretty limited space to grow melons as I am just growing in my suburban back yard.

Do you know any watermelon varieties that can handle 45 days of rain?

[Razorback04]

Space is a big deal with watermelons. Fortunately, I have plenty of that. Some of my vines have grown as much as 15'-18' in one direction.

45 days of rain? Wow. No, I doubt much of anything can handle that much water. So far, we've had normal rainfall here, but we're now getting abnormally dry. My watermelons are pretty far along and I think they'll be alright even if it doesn't rain anymore. They might be a little smaller than they otherwise would've been, but that's okay.

I've even read that dry weather actually helps make the melons sweeter. If that's true, I should be in store for some extra-sweet melons.

[feldon30]

Yes, I have also heard that water should be withheld from melons in the week prior to harvest to concentrate the sweetness.

One of the attendees of SETTFest, husbear, has a technique that sounds very intriguing to me and I am considering attempting it.

First, he prunes each vine to a length of, I think, 8 feet. He usually gets 2 melons per vine this way.

Second, he has a 40% shade cloth canopy over the bed at an extreme angle, kind of like the roof on an IHOP Pancake House:


If the shade cloth is arranged right on a framework, then most of the rain should run off and not go into the bed.

[Andrey_BY]

Do eat watermelons and seafood!

[Ruth_10]

Great shot, Andrey! It's the Red-snouted Watermelon Fish!
(What kind of watermelon is it and how did it taste?)

[Andrey_BY]

That one of real watermelon pieces we had been eaten this summer. I don't know what was the variety name. Just bought this watermelon at our market. There were a lot of fresh watermelons from teh South of Russia...

I just liked this piece because of it looked like a fish. Actually it was cutted like this - with eye-seed in this place and mouth-part as well