Mine don't change color that much except the bottom can change from white to yellow. I pick when the tendril at the stem of the melon turns brown. Look where the melon stem joins the vine. There will be a tendril there. It will turn from green to brown at maturity. This has worked well to indicate proper picking date on my watermelons.

Some times it helps to look at the tendrils at adjoining leaf axils. These tendrils are about 6 inches on both sides of the vine from the stem tendril.

fruitnut,

My first Starbrite has a brown tendril now....about 22 pounds. I know that different varieties may vary some on how soon they should be picked. I tend to leave them sweeten a few more days. It seems to me that the first melons in the season to appear ripe are often not quite as ripe as later ones which seem to ripen faster.

I have 1 Carmen watermelon plant. I wish I had planted more.

Wayne:

Last year my first picked Star Brite was a week too early. This year it was a week too late. But other than that the tendril method has been right on the money for me.

You're really rolling along if you have a ripe watermelon already. I struggled mightily getting something ripe in June. It was way below normal temperatures in March and April. But I probably have 40-50 watermelon on the vine now. So I'll be well hydrated until fall!!

Hope you aren't having any disease problems this year!

As for disease...I had too much rain and it probably hurt one strip of melons as the foliage is light green. On some of the others the extra rain seemed to make the vines explode with growth. Most of the vines look healthy.
I have had a smattering of wilt on some cantaloupe vines. Most are very growthy.

There are 7 ways to tell if a watermelon is ripe.

1. Most varieties have a "look" of ripeness. It is a kind of bulging full look.
2. The tendril turns brown at the stem as noted above. This is NOT reliable, some varieties will be ripe before or after the tentril turns brown.
3. The bottom of the melon will turn either white or yellow and the larger the spot, the more likely the melon is ripe.
4. Feel of the melon. If it feels lumpy/bumpy, then it is probably ripe. Unripe melons have a very smooth feel.
5. Thump the melon. A ripe one will sound like a bass drum full of water.
6. Some melons change color slightly when ripe. A few such as the yellow skin varieties show pronounced color change when ripe.
7. Smell of it. A ripe melon has a feel and smell that say it is ripe.

There are 2 or 3 other ways you can tell, but the above is a start.

DarJones

Thanks for all the advice.
Like I mentioned, since this is a mystery melon I have no idea what the eventual size should be. The tendril is still green, but I will keep my eye on it. My youngest thinks its the greatest thing since sliced bread that there is a watermelon in the garden. Its worth growing just to see his excitement.

As far as disease, I have been picking striped cucumber beetles off the plant. I have managed to keep them under control. I haven't seen any in almost a week.

Other than that, the only other problem I have is that there is only one watermelon. I think thats because its not getting full sun. Its under my corn, so as the corn grows it gets shaded more. I was planning on it vining more and I was planning on trailing it into the sun. However, it is more of a big circular plant with HUGE leaves. Even if I only get one melon, i am happy. I just don't want to pick it under/over ripe.

Thanks again for all you advice. If you have any advice on the lack of fruit I would appreciate it. Although I think its because of the corn shading the plant.

My first rule in a home garden situation is to note when the melon stops growing in size...ripeness follows "shortly" after.

No matter what method you use,it is still guessing.I have grown watermelons for over 30 years in my garden.The only sure-fired way to tell when they are ripe is to note the day the flower is polinated.When the melon is golfball size or so and looks to have been polinated.....take a plastic knife,right the date on it and about 35 days later it will be ripe.Works almost every time.

Of course it won't work for you this year.

My first watermelon this year was 4 by 2 inches on May 4. It didn't get ripe until June 25. So that was well over 60 days from pollination until ripe.

I pulled some more babies off the 2 Orangeglos....about 10 so far! One was about 5 lbs as I am trying to keep them down to 5 fruits between the 2 plants. They are planted in the same spot that had 4 huge ones on 1 plant 5 years ago.

Usually it takes aboue 3 months for the melon to ripe after plantig it.Brown tendrils,slightly yellowing of the surface of melon skin area that rests on the soil and hollow drum line sound by tapping the melon are another symptoms of ripe melon.I always note down the date on which seedlings were planted.

You have to know the average size of the variety you planted.
The little tendril next to vine usually turns brown. The underside of the watermelon turns a straw yellow. When you thump the melon, it has a sound or feeling in between hollow and dead. This is an art. Practice thumping store bought watermelons. Oblong melon varieties have a different thump feel than round ones. It's definitely an art....I've got some ripening right now.

To find the variety go to the following websites and see if your's looks like any of them:

http://www.willhiteseed.com/ - has almost all the commercial varieties- that is if it came from a store bought melon.

http://rareseeds.com/cart/ - has a lot of heirloom varieties.

This is my first year growing watermelons and I have two on the vine right now of the Picnic variety from baker creek. We are very excited since we all love watermelon. Tomorrow I will go out and check the tendrils to see if they have changed colors, but I was wondering if the underside changing colors still occurs if I have them setting up on something? I checked the baker site and it seems they are 90 -100 days so, will the four small ones I have growing on another plant need 90 days to ripen?

I also noticed that it seemed everyone grew larger sized watermelons. I picked Picnic due to the size, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to eat multiple huge watermelons. How long can they keep for if you don't eat them right away?

Thank you for your help. Seems I jumped in feet first without looking.

Christine

Christine, The very best watermelons I have tasted have been the larger varieties though a fully ripened Yellow Doll with good size for that variety can be exquisite.

Thanks, I will do a larger one next year, but unless my daughter changes her mind we won't be doing a yellow watermelon. She likes her watermelons red.

Christine:

Here's the key to handling the large watermelons. Don't try to put them in the frig whole. Cut the melon in half and cut out the edible part. Put it in tupperware containers. Now you can throw away all that rind in one fell swoop. A 30 lb melon now fits easily in the frig because there is only about 10 lbs edible anyway.

I'd never grow the smaller watermelons, not worth the trouble. A 10 lb icebox type watermelon will only be about 3 lbs edible and sometimes half that seems to be seeds, not really but seems that way. The big melons taste as good or better and you have enough season to grow them.

If you have more than one melon on the vine and at least one younger and smaller in size ,then tap the melons with your fingers one after the another.The sound of tapping from ripe melon is of much lower frequency(as if coming from a hollow body) sound from smaller melon is little sharper of higher frequency.
Secondly do not consume the melon immediately picking it.Let it stay in the house for a week or ten days this will give some extra time to melon to ripen.This is easily observed in the store where melons stay for few days without any damage till sold.

I once dug a 40lb melon (i weighed it) out of the wooded crate at the grocery store. At the time i think they were $2.99... Best watermelon i ever had. Sat out on the deck and cut it up like steaks. Nothing like watermelons kabobs on a hot day.