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Melon picking help?

HungryMan
HungryMan Posts: 3,470
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
When are they ready to pick???

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Comments

  • HungryNephew
    HungryNephew Posts: 267
    After they say "I'm so drunk" (rim shot)
  • Mainegg
    Mainegg Posts: 7,787
    LOL where are you? we still have threats of freakin SNOW! nothing is even in the ground let alone ready to pick! LOL
  • HungryMan
    HungryMan Posts: 3,470
    Tampa. I got all sorts of stuff growing. Its late in the season and I even have strawberry's still. I just never did melons and dont want to pick too soon.
  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    Al,

    Thump them...my uncle used to grow water melons & cantelopes as he was a farmer....thump the lope at both ends...if it is a hollow thud they should be ready to pick...the other way he taught me to check (You Can't do this in a store) is just cut the melon open..it depends on how many you have...

    I love fresh melons...I mean water & cantelopes... :whistle:
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,665
    i planted some a few years back, the yard starts to smell like cantaloupe when they are ripe.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • BlueSmoke
    BlueSmoke Posts: 1,678
    Look at your picture: see how the area "behind the netting" has a greenish hue? See how well defined are the strands of the netting?

    When your melon is ripe, the greenish area will be a light tan, and the edges of the strands "fuzzy", not nearly as distinct as they are now.

    Because you're going to "ship" your harvest all the way from the garden to the kitchen, you can let it get fully ripe on the vine. When your melon is ripe, it should have a faint but definite cantaloupe aroma, particularly at the blossom end.

    HTH
    Ken
  • HungryMan
    HungryMan Posts: 3,470
    Thats the plan. I just tried one and it was not even close.
  • Slotmercenary
    Slotmercenary Posts: 1,071
    i never picked any of my melons until the feeder vine starts to dry up then you know the melon is no longer taking moisture or nourishment from the host vine.
    happy harvest........
  • HungryMan
    HungryMan Posts: 3,470
    That must be why my plant looks like this. So do the cucumbers. I think I need to toss them. The berrys still are looking good.
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  • Fossil Frank
    Fossil Frank Posts: 285
    HungryMan
    I grew up on a watermelon and canteloupe farm in southwest Indiana so I've picked a lot of melons. There are two ways to tell when a canteloupe is ripe. The surest way is when the melon turns golden colored. The second way is to look where the melon is attached to the vine,if the stem is starting to seperate from the melon (there will be a crack around the connection between the melon and stem)it is ready to pick. The stem should "slip" off of the melon easily. Melons found in the store are usually picked so green that they never attain a good taste as they "ripen". They usually get soft and if they aren't firm they won't be good.
    Frank from Indiana
  • HungryMan
    HungryMan Posts: 3,470
    Thats what I would like. Melons that taste good. I remember as a kid curtain times of the year we got fruit and it was good. Now we get crap all year long from south America and it's picked way to early.