I made a really big mistake, and picked one of my watermelons way too soon. I had read that a sign it is ready is if it breaks away from the stem with very little effort. I guess I proved that tip wrong, and with disastrous consequences (hey, you’d be upset too if you just wasted a huge percentage of your watermelon crop). I also thumped it and thought it sounded right, but I’m apparently not very proficient at distinguishing the subtleties of melon sounds.
The exterior on the ill-fated watermelon was darker and more uniform than the ones here in the picture.
Does anyone have any better advice? I obviously need to wait longer, but how will I know? And how quickly do they get overripe?
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Maggie's Farm 
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August 5, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Emma
I don’t know about watermelons, I’m waiting to see if they set fruit, but try reading this article from Amy Goldman: http://www.rareforms.com/article_on_amy_08.htm
August 5, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Maggie
Thanks, Emma. What an interesting article!
I think a shortage of funds will keep me from taking an MRI scan of the melon (not sure how you would do that without picking the watermelon, anway!). Just imagining that made me laugh!
But this tip seems promising: it is ripe when tendril closest to the stem withers. It is also helpful to know that the melons stop putting on weight once they turn ripe. I will let you know how it works out.