watermelon - I'm confused now

[stella1751]

Here's my biggest melon still on the vine:

[img]https://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm113/drew4allyou/0811111721-00.jpg[/img]

I know it's not ripe because the stem is still green and the spot on the bottom is kind of a pale white as opposed to creamy. I'm really crossing my fingers on these babies because the last thing I want is to pick one and find out it's under ripe!

This literally keeps me awake at night

I've been fighting dad because he is of the idea that it needs to be picked now because it's going to rot on the vine.

In other melon related news, one of my cantaloupes is almost ripe! The skin started turning orange the other day.

That is a gorgeous melon. My little guys range from golf-ball size to (maybe) hard-ball size. I can't wait until they look like yours!

[cga]

Is there a way to tell for sure when Sugar Babies are ready? Their at 80 days, big as basketballs and the tendrils are still green. To me, they have always sounded hollow.

Sure could use some help on this one. First time growing watermelons.

No real easy way to tell from my limited experience. I recommend going to youtube and search for "harvesting sugarbaby watermelons" and watch as many as you can and then practice, practice, practice. Some will tell you they know the "method" as if there's a science to it, but it is very much an art.

The good news is that they're great for the compost (regardless of ripeness)

BTW, I get the impression that this guy really knows what he's talking about, but in this video he's only talking about how to pick them out at the grocery store: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBP2flSCZVY

Thank you sir.

[john gault]

So is it the stem that must turn brown or is it the vine-like appendages, AKA, the tendrils

Actually that's kind of a rhetorical question, don't really want to start a war