Watermelon Woes...or not?

I was going to ask why my watermelon had split before it was mature, and how to help the rest of them. Well turns out it was ripe (and delicious) just very small. This is a variety called Long Milky Way, but it wasn't. Long. It was about a foot from end to end. I didn't think it was any where near ready, the seeds were planted in mid April, so maybe it was enough time after all. My Sugar Babies don't seem to have grown much, either, and are about softball sized. I didn't get to check them, as I left this morning, and won't be home for over a week. Is it possible they're ripe, as well? I don't mind the small size, I really couldn't figure our how two people were going to eat even one huge melon.
Any advice or Watermelon Wisdom?
Thanks
Margo

Not familiar with Long Milky Way, but any watermelon planted in mid April should be ripe by now. Some cultivars are prone to splitting, Tastigold is the worst that I have tried. Sugar Babies normally get about the size of a shot. ( That's the iron ball used in the Olympic shot put, bigger than a softball but about half the size of a basketball.) Sugar Baby is not an early melon, but should ripening by now. The tendril should be brown and dry and the underside turned yellow. These were lined up to use in the watermelon shot put at the Tom Watson Watermelon Festival.

Farmerdill,

When you say the tendril should be brown and dry, do you mean the stem where it is attached to the vine?

Thanks,

Karen

No, it is small thin vine like growth that curls on the end. The old folks would say its ripe when the curl dies. Sort of looks like a pigstail. This one is green, when it dries up, the melon is ripe

With this one the melon is ripe.

Farmerdill,

Thanks. Going out tomorrow morning to look at the tendril. I have a Sugar Baby melon that is the size to be ripe.

Karen

Farmerdill, thanks! Great tip! Is there a similar tip to indicate when cantaloupe is ripe?

Cantaloupes slip ( turn loose of the vine when ripe) Exception is the Charantais melons, I don't grow them, but suspect that you have to watch for a color change. Color cahnge also occurs with regular cantaloupes, but the best way is just to pick up the cantaloupe, It it releases from the vine it is ripe.

So, when you say the tendrils dry up, does that mean they all have to be brown, or just the ones closest to the watermelon? I have sugar babies that are now about the size of softballs...they've grown so quickly! I think it was last week I saw the starts of watermelons....I watered that night, the next day they were noticeably larger...like from the size of a grape to the size of an egg. I started mine late(I think mid June). Do they reach the mature size, and then ripen...or by the time they get to the mature size they're pretty much ready?

Thanks for any help!

Kristie

Only the tendral where the watermelon attaches to the vine counts. It takes roughly five weeks from bloom to ripe.

Thanks for the info Farmerdill!

Kristie

Well, I waited until a tendril was dried up closest to the watermelon and picked it, but it wasn't done. IT still tastes ok, but it was pink and doesn't have any black seeds....any other way of deciding when they're done? I only have two left, so I wanna get it right! Thanks for any help....

Kristie

With the exception of Sugar Baby which can be tricky, the dry tendril always works for me. The other signs are a changing of the color on the bottom. The green melons getting a yellow spot, white melons getting somewhat creamy looking. The sheen on the rind also dulls, the old folks called it losing the frost. Lastly a ripe melon has a more dull sound when thumped. It takes a little experience I guess, I have not mised in the last 35 years, but did a few unripe ones when I was younger. If you are growing Sugar baby or one of its derivatives, you might take Indy's advice and wait a week or 10 days after the tendril dies.
Edited to add. Some watermelons have pink flesh and watermelon seeds come in several colors from white to tan to black.

This message was edited Aug 12, 2007 8:26 AM

Well, they have almost always had a discoloration on the bottom....some form of yellow that has always been noticeable...they are dark green and the one I picked was definately dull. I tasted it, and it wasn't bad, tasted like a really sweet melon closer to the rind.....The watermelon seeds I planted were kinda brownish, so I'm assuming the mature seeds would be the same. I am still going to eat my melon, just hoping for better luck next time. Oh, and when I hit the melon, it sounded hollow pretty much.....It has been very hot here and I haven't been watering as much as I probably should have...perhaps this caused the tendrils to dry up sooner? Oh, also instead of it being watering, it was thicker...almost sappy. But, I hadn't had it in the refrigerator long enough to cool....maybe then the juice wouldn't be so thick? So, just in case...can you let a melon go too long and it be bad?

Thanks for all the help, and sorry about all the questions!

Kristie

They give a pretty long window of opportunity, A couple of weeks to a month depending on conditions and cultivars. They tend to lose thier crispness. Some cultivars by getting watery hearts, In others the hearts get dry and seperate from the seeds.

Thanks! I think if I have a larger time table to get them after they're ripe, I'd rather pick them late than early. Thanks for the help!

Kristie