Blacktailed mountain and all watermelons are ripe when the tendril were the melon attaches to the stem is dry. This is the best indicator and the tendril must be fully browned and dried. If only half will be green inside. I would guess at least another week maybe two. It would be ashame to pick early and not have anthing tro eat. Once the tendril dies the melon will hold on the vine for about 2weeks as long as there is no heavy rain which can cause a ripe melon to split same as tomatoes. Other indicators for ripeness in watermelons is a dull skin. Unripe melons have a shiny appearance. Also the spot were the melon touches the ground will be shiny and white in a unripe melon and will turn dull and beige to yellow when ripe. Sue you mentioned the stem showing no sign of seperation. Watermelons do not seperate from the stem neither do Honey dew melons and most true(European) cantelopes, only Muskmelons or what we , as Americans, call cantelopes.

This is a picture taken in 05 of my daughter holding a Blacktailed Mountain. Note the yellow bottom and I found Blacktailed Mountain is at its peak if left on a few days after the tendril dries.
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Here is a Charleston Grey with dry tendril
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Here is a Charleston grey larger than the previous melon but tendril stil green
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Here is the ripe Melon care for a bite? it sure is good.
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and this is the one with the green tendril it will be at least a week or so before it is ready. And I can't emphasize enough it is better to wait a few days after the tendril turns brown to pick that to pick too early.
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Rodger

Your pictures are very helpful. My largest melon is not near the size of the one your daughter is holding.

I gather you grow more than one variety of watermelons in the same season; is it ok to keep seeds with more than one variety or is cross polination a problem? What is your favorite variety watermelon?

Thanks,

Sue Ellen

Sue I do plant several varieties of watermelons each year and the whole cucurbit family are outcrossing and require bees to pollinate. To maintain pure seed I grow melons at three locations one at each plus my home garden. In my home garden I have a large patch of melons 6 varieties 8 plants of each. These were planted in Mid April and started end of March in the greenhouse. I started a secound patch in mid May. When the secound patch, which is Stone Mountain, started to Bloom third week in June ,I covered the first patch with insect netting. I grow my melons on landscape fabric for weed control and use a drip irrigation system. The netting was layed over the patch and tucked under the edges of the landscape fabric then held done with metal clips. In the picture of the Red okra above you can see the netting on the left. The red okra is planted between the two melon patches. At the time the netting was installed the first patch had several melons developing probably not as many as it could have had if left uncovered but these were for general eating and not seed saving. I still have that patch covered and the pictures of the melons that I took above were harvested from and taken from under that netting.This method allows the bees to pollinate the seed crop and allows me to harvest another crop without any cross pollination.
Here is the two patches taken a few minutes ago in a drizzling rain. I am hoping the bottom will fall out we need a good soaker.
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Charleston Grey under netting. It is very shear , durable and allows air and water to penetrate and as I said it is raining so you can see the water drops.
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as to which is my favorite. I prefer yellow meated but I am still searching for the one I remember from my child hood. For a early melon with very good flavor Black tailed mountain can't be beat. Rodger

rodger,

How densely to you plant your watermelons? I think I overcrowded mine this year.

The foliage of mine look about as dense as your second to last picture there, but the melons just started growing less than a week ago. The biggest is softball sized. I assume that means the vines will want to continue to grow.

My varieties are small fruited hybrids. Sweet Beauty and Glory Sugar.

Wow, nice pics Rodger!

I enjoyed growing blacktail mountain last year but mine weren't nearly as large as yours either! This year I'm growing moon & stars.

I start my melons in 4 in peat pots two seed per pot. Then I plant my melons 2 pots in a hill each one foot apart then 10 ft till the next hill. Here is a few more pictures of the melons showing different degrees of ripeness.
Ga. Rattlesnake
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Same melon not yet ready
still green
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Keckley's Sweet
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Same melon almost ready
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Missouri Yellow Meated
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Same melon dead ripe
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Here is a Moon and stars I grew last year
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To get good quality melons deep well drained fertile soil is a must. I plow the ground a good 12-18inches deep. My soil is red clay but I grow cover crops and till in each spring and summer. To each hill I put in one full wheelbarrel of compost and well rotted horse manure, Yes I said one full to over flowing large wheelbarrel to each hill. I then till this in well. When I plant the melons I add a handfull of Gypsum for calcium and a Handfull of bone meal for phosphate to each hole. I use a drip irigation system and cover the ground with two strips of 5ft wide landscape fabric to keep out weeds and it also warms the soil and retains moisture. I do not mulch melons to keep the cucumber beetles and squash bugs down. This gives me a ten foot wide row with hills ten foot apart. Before long the entire area will be a solid mass of vines and lots of sweet juicy melons. I start harvesting First week in July till frost due to succesive plantings one planting in April and a secound in Mid May, I planted my last batch on the 4th of July. We don't get frost till end of October. Rodger

PS all of the above melons are under the netting in the top picture of my first post.

You've made this thread a great lesson in melon growing, Rodger. It's the best information I've ever seen on the subject.

Jim

Another ripe tip that I learned about just last year (and I've grown melons for 20+ years now) is to find tiny black specks or spots within the light area on the bottom. The hard part is rolling or lifting the melon up to find them. Usually these black specks are in a bunch or small patch all together and each speck is no larger than the period at the end of this sentence. The specks are actually mildew which show up after the melon has sat in place for a long period of time. If you combine this with "thumping", "dried tendril", "lumpy rhine", "yellow/beige bottom", and dull sheene", that should do it....But, one but, is that smaller deep dark green melons such as Sugar Baby and probably BMT too will have a deep yellow bottom early on and that really can't be depended upon as an indicator of ripeness.

vgkg,

Will you are someone else please explain, "lumpy rhine"?

I presume the exterior of the melon is not smooth but lumpy.

Sue Ellen

Suellen, take a second look at Rodger's excellent pictures above. Notice the last 2 whole melons, the M&S and Missouri Yellow Meated. Both have a lumpy or rippled rhine/skin. This is a very good sign but it must be taken in account with all the others. I learned the hard way last year when I first grew "Raspa" large melons, everything was in place except the tiny black specks on the bottom. Living & Learning still....

Rodger-

Awesome! That MO monster you are growing there, what does that taste like??? Very impressive. Thanks for the pictures.

Does that netting keep the cucumber beetles at bay??? I'm having a heck of a time keeping them off my Charentais melons.

No mention of wilt or disease problems on this nicely done page. Am I the only one who has had to deal with them?

I agree that in clay or clay loam soil that it takes extra soil prep to get nice quality watermelons. After 65 years of off and on melons in the garden and nearby field, I have to be concerned about wilt diseases. After all, how much rotation and extra should it take? In some melon growing areas they put a field in pasture for several years and then back into melons. This does help prevent disease and enrich the soil.

Wow! The melon growers are coming out of the woodwork. This is getting interesting.

Jim

Wayne, Disease is always a problem and wilt is a problem I deal with each year. I lost 6 plants under the netting due to wilt, it seem to went straight across in a line down the middle. I also lost one of my Stone mountains. I am completly Organic and I choose not to spray anything even organic sprays. Mainly I choose this approach because I don't have the time to spend worrying about each problem that arises and spending time and money trying to battle it. Instead I choose cultural practices to minimize the effects of insects , birds, deer ,rabbits, coons, squirrels and ever bacterial, fungal and viral microbes out they that want the vegetables and flowers of my garden. I have found the more I learn to let nature take its course and creat a garden inviting to beneficial insects and keeping the ground covered at all timeswith the use of mulches, cover crops, and employing tactics to ward off critters, including vigilant trapping of some pest such as squirrels the garden takes care of it self and I have more time to enjoy my garden and I feel a lot better about the produce I eat and raise. But wilt is probably my worst problem with melons and roatation is the key. I too have grown melons for years but not as long as you have especially in this garden spot. Hopefully I can continue to get a sweet summer melon for my troubles.

Frank if referring to the Missouri yellow meated it is a big melon the one pictured is probable 35lbs I picked one the other day and that 's what it weighed. It was devine juicy and sweet. This was the first year growing it. Rodger

rodger, That Missouri yellow meat looks like a dead ringer for Desert King which I raised a plant one year.

A couple years ago I had an Orangeglo that set on 4 watermelons at once. I found them when they were too large to prune a couple off. It made 119½ pounds of great melons.

I don't have much insect problems on watermelons at all so poison sprays are probably not necessary in my garden on them. I have used Root Shield in the seed starting mix on my melons the last three years and that helps on fusarium wilt and early seedling problems.

My favorite tasting melon is Raspa. I tend to raise mostly newer varieties as I find them more reliable for me. I tried Blacktail Mt. once and both plants died on me when others didn't.

I wanted to bump this thread up and inform everyone that if your interested in the Stone Mountain Watermelon it will be available at Bakers Creek and Southern exposure seeds for 2008. I had a very good grow out of this melon and it was fantastic. Nice size 20-25# thick rind, juicy and sweet red flesh. This melon was introduced in 1924 by Hastings seed co of Atlanta Ga and was the top selling melon in the 40-50's and as with everything else seed companies dropped it for the new market craze. I remembered my Grandaddy growing this and he wouldn't grow any other red fleshed melon. So if you want a good melon give Stone Mountain a try next year. Rodger

Newbie gardener. I have a Sugar Baby melon plant growing up a fence. I seem to be having a hard time finding info on this specific type of melon, especially when to harvest. Any experts have any sage advice?