As stated above.....all cantalope/muskmelons turn tan/yellow when ripe.Galia types also turn that color.Both kinds slip from the vine.But don't tug them off or they will be at 1/2 slip and not as sweet. For varieties I have grown around 35 different ones.For muskmelons....I like the new Goddess and Alaska for an early ones and Aphrodite,Sensation and probably the best tasting of them all.....Athena. The Galia types are green fleshed,and to me taste closer to Honeydews.I like Passport,Arava,and Rocky Sweet. Honeydews do not slip and it is a lot more difficult to tell when ripe.Look for a suttle change in color from green to a soft greenish./cream color.Earlydew is reliable here. Watermelons are totally different.My favorites are Yellow Doll,Mickylee....the crispiest melon I have grown....Sweet Beauty....all 6-10 lbs and the old fashioned Crimson Sweet for a later larger melon.They will hit over 20 lbs here if we have a warm summer.For a seedless.....Gypsy is my favorite.It is the only one that germinates reliably There is no way to easily tell when watermelons are ripe just by looking at them.I look for the tendril opposite the melon to be dried up.But the best way to tell is to label them when they are polinated.When they are golf ball sized.....I take plastic knives and write the date on it and stick it in the ground next to the melon.Add 30-35 days and it should be ripe most of the time. Since I live in zone 4 I have to do somethings extra to get ripe melons before frost kills them. 1.Start them indoors 3 weeks early in pots. 2.put down black plastic in a row where they will go to warm up the ground 3.I use clear plastic grow tunnels over them.Cut holes in the black plastic,dig out the soil.Put in some 10-10-10 and put 2 or 3 plants in.Move down the row 3 feet and do it again and again until you have them all planted.Put your clear plastic over hoops and cut holes in it here and there to let out excessive heat.When the melon plants stretch out to the edge of the plastic,uncover them. 4.Get those melons up off the ground and out of the shade of the leaves and into the sunshine.I use overturned pots.Put your dated plastic knife next to it and wait for them to ripen. People in warmer zones probably don't have to do this.....but here in the northern part of the country it gives me lots of good melons to eat for about 2 months.

I've had Korean melon once in Jan 2014. I washed the seeds really well and dried them for 2 weeks and kept them. I proceeded to grow a few seeds and three germinated after like forever for me. I did not use heating mats or additional lighting, etc. So anyway, I put them in the back garden in the coop where I live and within a few weeks pests ate the tiny vines. I guess you can do the same as I did regarding saving the seeds.

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!

Thanks so much for the advice. When I googled it, it said not to leave them on the vine because they would get 'sunburned.' It's in full sun, so I thought that I should take it off early. I've since pulled it off, but it did not come off easily. I twisted and yanked to get it off, but it was already fully yellow. Here's a pic. I really appreciate your tip that they 'slip off easily.' I'll be sure to let them do that next time instead of wrestling it off. It's good to know that there will be more coming. We haven't tasted it yet, but we will today. Thanks.