Tendril, in botany, plant organ specialized to anchor and support vining stems. Your email address will not be published. On a ripe watermelon, the color of its stripes indicate maturity; if the stripes have a noticeable contrast, the fruit is probably ready for harvest. Why Does the Cantaloupe Start to Form and Then Turn Brown? © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Winter melons, Crenshaws, and a handful of unusual muskmelons (like the Kajari) show a combination of the signs from other types indicating ripeness.

Heft ItIf you've gone through the above tests and still can't narrow down your choices between a couple of watermelons, try comparing the weight of similarly-sized ones and pick the one that seems heavier to you. There is nothing quite like the disappointment of biting into what you thought was ripe watermelon, only to be rewarded by the bland taste of an unripe melon. When I Shake My Cantaloupe I Can Hear the Loose Seeds, Is it Ripe? If this spot is white, it’s not ripe. If the tendril is still green, the watermelon is probably still ripening. How to Know When Icebox Watermelons Are Ripe. An even more reliable indicator is the tendril …

An even more reliable indicator is the tendril next to the fruit. Winter Root Crops (How not to get sick of your root veggies), Preparing For Next Year’s Garden (more things to help fight the post-season blues), How To Make Compost (and other ways to fight the post-season blahs). Watermelon ripeness can also be determined by checking the pale spot on the underside where they rest on the ground. And a ripe watermelon from these varieties should be approximately the size indicated on the seed package, although that can vary quite a bit depending on the conditions in your garden.

If the whole vine and leaves are getting brown, the watermelons probably won't get any riper, and it might be best to harvest them before they go bad. Learning the difference between the sounds of an unripe vs. a ripe watermelon takes a bit of practice, but one way to get a head start on it is to ask a melon grower at your local farmers market (or perhaps the produce manager at the grocery store) to demonstrate it for you so you can hear it for yourself.

Derek Markham is a green living expert who started writing for Treehugger in 2012. When To pick watermelons is something that everyone has their own ideas about, some of them are true and some of them aren't. If this spot is white, it’s not ripe. As watermelons grow and mature, their colors change, indicating when they are ripe for the picking.

The tendrils of the watermelon do more than provide it with sustenance, they act like a timer, indicating when the fruit is ripe. Squeeze ItGently squeeze the side of the watermelon to see if there's a bit of "give" to it. Many of the standard commercial varieties of watermelons grown in home gardens will be true to their descriptions on the seed package, assuming all other things are equal (good soil, adequate watering, lack of pest issues), so it's good practice to keep track of when those melons 'should' be ripe before trying to harvest one.