when you can smell the melon from afar. If the vine comes off the melon with the SLIGHTEST of pull. Those are some good ways to tell if it is ripe. I find when in doubt don't pick the melon. resist the temptation! haha, hope that helps

Thanks, guys! I will keep closer tabs on the color next year. It's funny, I don't really remember the color changing, but I was monitoring 3 different types of melons all for the first time. I'm probably misremembering. I think I found those when I started smelling them. I wish I had'nt limited this thread to charentais, now I'm wondering if there's a good way to tell when th butterscotch melon is ripe. Those I remember changing color. Are they supposed to still be very firm-fleshed when ripe? I was never quite sure. What are they? A small honeydew? An asian type? Anyhow, thanks again!

I remember chammea from many work trips to Korea. finally noticed a few in the local Safeway store as "Korean melons", so I bought one. the store bought one must have been harvested too early or something because the flavor was "blah"" at best. however, it did have seeds, which I planted in a large 18" pot and successfully grew 3 melons. I harvested the first one when all the green was gone and the stripes where white. it was crunchy and sweet, just like I remembered. I think I planted overall too late in the season, but just in time to get 3 melons. the skin on this type was a bit too tough to really eat, but I don't remember ever having any with skins back in the day during my trips there either. I found your site because I wasn't sure exactly when to harvest my experimental batch. thanks for the tips!

Green Grape. I had good(in fact, great) late production, but I couldn't stand the taste. Mine seemed to be determinate, but put on another impressive spurt of growth towards the end of the season. Mine were from Pinetree Gardens. If there is an indeterminate, is the taste better? JMO, Tom ***** Tom, the problem with Green Grape for some of us is that the indet goes to det all by itself. And Tom Wagner, the breeder of GG, knows all about it. I've had it happem three times now from indet to det. And I do agree that the taste of the indet, as shown in my book, is better than the det. I don't know what's going on and nor does Tom, from whom I got two indet plants when I was in Pasadena for an heirloom event and he drove down to Pasadena from Bakersfield where he was then living to the same event and also brought those plants which I coddled on the plane back East. But I still say that Green Doctors is much more tasty than any GG I've ever grown. For me Green Zebra doesn't do it.....too agressive, shall I say, taste-wise, but I do know that for many it's sweet and lucious, but not for me. Carolyn