It's raining - melon has 1-2 days to full ripe - pick?

[applestar]

I have a nice sized French charentais melon 'Edonis' that is ripening on the vine.

It has changed color from the fresh seafoam blue-green with green stripes to dusky yellow and you can smell it 5 feet away. But it hasn't slipped, not even half-slipped. It has two tendrils where it's attached to the vine, one of them has browned.

We're getting a nice slow drizzle today for the first time in weeks. Which is great for the rest of the garden, but I'm afraid it's going to water down the melon's flavor or even cause it to split.

Should I pick it NOW before the vine takes up the rain?
Should I wait another day for it to ripen some more?
Oh, what to do....

[engineeredgarden]

I'd definitely wait until it slipped from the vine.

EG

[LindsayArthurRTR]

I picked most of my melons when they turned color and when I could smell them! Then I let them sit on the counter smelling wonderful for a couple of days. I had to pick one a little early, before it changed color. Set it on the garden table for a few days under the porch. It ripened up to be the best, sweetest one.

IMPE, some of them slipped right off, some of them didn't. Either way they ripen on the counter just fine. But not watermelon

If you don't pick it, make sure you put something underneath them if they are on the ground. Bugs and beetles and ants just cain't resist a sweet smellin melon I used paper plates!!!

[applestar]

Thanks for your replies.
It didn't rain as long as I feared -- which means not long enough for the most of the garden .

I just went out to check on it again, and now I can't smell it at all, so I guess I'll give it another day. I did pick a Tigger melon this morning that was smelling wonderfully, and now it's filling the kitchen with the delicious aroma.

On the other hand, I rushed it and picked a 'Honey Pearl' honeydew that I'm afraid wasn't quite ready. I guess I'll try leaving it on the counter since only covered porch area is the front porch and I'm not sure about leaving the melon there.... I suppose I *could* put it in the garage where it'll be hot. I don't let DH keep cars or nasty smelling stuff in there -- actually, right now it smells like sweet clover seeds and bokashi that I spread out to dry....

I'll check on 'Edonis' in the morning.

[garden5]

I'm wondering if putting one in a paper bag with a banana peel or apple slice, like you do with tomatoes, wouldn't work for melons as well .

Ah, but why deprive you and your house of such an awesome aroma, anyway?

[farmerlon]

... or even cause it to split.

I found a "watermelon grenade" in the garden today. It had not even started to ripen, but we had almost 2 inches of rain the other day, and I guess it was more than that melon could handle ... it blew up; split open all the way down the middle.

[applestar]

Don't you HATE it when that happens? (Though I've never found one THAT badly split) I'm convinced you HAVE to pick or actually have to protect the vines from the rain when excessive rain is forecast.

I ended up waiting until 20th (Friday) -- so two more days -- when it resumed the wonderful aroma.
Here is what it looked like when I harvested it:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7897.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7901.jpg[/img]
As you can see, it was starting to split from the bottom:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image7899.jpg[/img]

I was anxious so we ate it that evening. I forgot to take a photo of it sliced. It was deliciously fragrant and had an indefinable delicate flavor, but was not as sweet as I had hoped. Maybe I should have let it sit on the counter but I was afraid it would mold where it was cracked.

I went on a search for DELICIOUS and SWEET melons for next year and decided on one or more out of Honey Orange, Sugar Nut, and Rayaan, based on this report: https://www.specialtycrops.colostate.edu/rmsofp/melons_2004.htm
They probably have shorter growing season like me.

[garden5]

So, why exactly does it split; absorbs too much water or is it just from the melon sitting in the wet muck? You'd think that the plant would "know" enough than to sabotage its own fruit by uptaking too much water .

[farmerlon]

...
I went on a search for DELICIOUS and SWEET melons for next year .

If it will work in your zone, I highly recommend that you try the Ambrosia hybrid melon (cantaloupe)... it is by far the best tasting cantaloupe that I have found, so far.
I believe that melon was originally hybridized by the Burpee company... they sell it, and I believe that many other seed companies also offer the seeds.

[BP]

I have read many reports of Ambrosia being great and plan on adding it to the melon patch next year.
This was my first year growing melons, but am convinced that growing them on a trellis in a raised bed that drains very quickly is the way to go. I have local friends that didn't do as well as me and they grew on the ground (something under the fruits) and right in the ground. Eventhough way too much rain from 2 storms and high humidity with very light winds allowed PM to form, the weather changed to little or no rain while fruits rippened and out of 21 melons harvested (mostly cantaloupes with some watermelons and honeydew mixed in, I never had one split. Hopefully I'm onto something with the trellis in a raised bed for melons?

[applestar]

This time I have a small (softball size) melon -- a volunteer (possibly Tigger/Honey Pearl cross) just judging from outer appearance, or a Honey Pearl (which is a hybrid) throwback. I found it growing among the tomatoes (hanging, in fact, from a tomato cage) because of its melon-y smell two days ago just before the start of a drizzly day . I've let it sit on the table, and tonight, it's smelling heavenly! ...but we didn't get the chance to eat it. I think it'll be breakfast in the morning.