BlankHow do you tell when a watermelon and cantalope are ready to pick? Our sugar babie watermelon are a little bigger than a basketball most of them and the cantalopes are pretty big also. The cantalopes are ivory with some light green showing thru.Any help would be appreciated!

Bonnie

Blank"Bonnie" wrote in message
...
| How do you tell when a watermelon and cantalope are ready to pick? Our
sugar babie watermelon are a little bigger than a basketball | most of them
and the cantalopes are pretty big also. The cantalopes are ivory with some
light green showing thru.Any help would be | appreciated!

Pick the lopes when they easily slip from the vine.

Sugar Babies are ready when the bottoms are yellow, the curly-q near the
stem is brown, and they have a nice thump when tapped. You can anticipate
the date to pick by counting forward from the day of planting, the number of
days to maturity.

--
TQ

Thanks! I think the babies are ready!! The lopes have some time yet!!


Bonnie

Blanki've been growing melons for a # of years now and i've found the "watch for the tendril to dry up" and "watch for the underside to turn a cream color" the least reliable methods of all, especially on the sugar baby variety. i've actually read in many places on the web that what little value watching the underside holds doesn't apply to this variety, due to its dark color.

the one method i have found to be reliable across all varieties i've grown is the "thump test." it does take some time getting your ear trained but once u do, it really does work. if u do grow the same variety year after year, it's a good idea to make notes as your melons reach certain milestone (when did the first blossoms appear, when did u see the first melon, when did the first melon get softball size - most important note of all, when did u get your first ripe melon). by looking at previous year's notes, i know almost exactly when to expect my first ripe melon, based on when my first melon made it to softball size this year and adding the avg # of days to first ripe melon (based on previous year's notes).
"Bonnie" wrote in message ...
How do you tell when a watermelon and cantalope are ready to pick? Our sugar babie watermelon are a little bigger than a basketball most of them and the cantalopes are pretty big also. The cantalopes are ivory with some light green showing thru.Any help would be appreciated!

Bonnie

Blank
"brickled" wrote in message
hlink.net...
i've been growing melons for a # of years now and i've found the "watch for
the tendril to dry up" and "watch for the underside to turn a cream color"
the least reliable methods of all, especially on the sugar baby variety.
i've actually read in many places on the web that what little value watching
the underside holds doesn't apply to this variety, due to its dark color.

the one method i have found to be reliable across all varieties i've grown
is the "thump test."


Which is why I included the word 'AND' in the three conditions. No one
condition indicates ready-to-pickness.

"Sugar Babies are ready when the bottoms are yellow, the curly-q near the
stem is brown, and they have a nice thump when tapped."

--
TQ

Blank
"brickled" wrote in message
hlink.net...
i've been growing melons for a # of years now and i've found the "watch for
the tendril to dry up" and "watch for the underside to turn a cream color"
the least reliable methods of all, especially on the sugar baby variety.
i've actually read in many places on the web that what little value watching
the underside holds doesn't apply to this variety, due to its dark color.

the one method i have found to be reliable across all varieties i've grown
is the "thump test."


Which is why I included the word 'AND' in the three conditions. No one
condition indicates ready-to-pickness.

"Sugar Babies are ready when the bottoms are yellow, the curly-q near the
stem is brown, and they have a nice thump when tapped."

--
TQ

the thump trumps all though - regardless of the tendril's condition and
regardless of the color of the underside of the melon, if it passes the
thump test it's almost always ripe.

"TQ" wrote in message
...
Blank
"brickled" wrote in message
hlink.net...
i've been growing melons for a # of years now and i've found the "watch
for
the tendril to dry up" and "watch for the underside to turn a cream color"
the least reliable methods of all, especially on the sugar baby variety.
i've actually read in many places on the web that what little value
watching
the underside holds doesn't apply to this variety, due to its dark color.

the one method i have found to be reliable across all varieties i've grown
is the "thump test."


Which is why I included the word 'AND' in the three conditions. No one
condition indicates ready-to-pickness.

"Sugar Babies are ready when the bottoms are yellow, the curly-q near the
stem is brown, and they have a nice thump when tapped."

--
TQ

Well, picked one of the big ones and quess I'll gp for the thump test! It
had a yellow underside ,the tendril was Not brown yet and although it tastes
great, it wasn't red ,just dark pink! Will let the rest go till the thump is
better!! Thanks ! I guess practice makes perfect!
"Bonnie" wrote in message
...
Thanks! I think the babies are ready!! The lopes have some time yet!!


Bonnie

brickled said:

the thump trumps all though - regardless of the tendril's condition and
regardless of the color of the underside of the melon, if it passes the
thump test it's almost always ripe.

One more thing, other than the color of the bottom, the tendril, and thumping.
The 'feel' of the watermelon changes. If you grasp the top of the watermelon
and drag your fingers across it, you get the impression of a subtle 'ropiness'
in the rind in ripe melons. (This is one of the things I check if I buy a
watermelon at the market -- where it's often hard to listen to a thump.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

brickled said:

the thump trumps all though - regardless of the tendril's condition and
regardless of the color of the underside of the melon, if it passes the
thump test it's almost always ripe.

One more thing, other than the color of the bottom, the tendril, and thumping.
The 'feel' of the watermelon changes. If you grasp the top of the watermelon
and drag your fingers across it, you get the impression of a subtle 'ropiness'
in the rind in ripe melons. (This is one of the things I check if I buy a
watermelon at the market -- where it's often hard to listen to a thump.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

Thanks ,I'll also use that method!
"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
brickled said:

the thump trumps all though - regardless of the tendril's condition and
regardless of the color of the underside of the melon, if it passes the
thump test it's almost always ripe.

One more thing, other than the color of the bottom, the tendril, and
thumping.
The 'feel' of the watermelon changes. If you grasp the top of the
watermelon
and drag your fingers across it, you get the impression of a subtle
'ropiness'
in the rind in ripe melons. (This is one of the things I check if I buy a
watermelon at the market -- where it's often hard to listen to a thump.)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)