When I first planted watermelons I was looking up how to tell when they’re ready to be picked. The answer across the board was “when the tendril where the fruit stalk meets the vine dies back”. I figured that was easy enough.
Enter exhibit one:
There are TWO tendrils on the vine right at that connection!
And one died back and one didn’t.
So I went back and re-read the info on ripe watermelons.
The skin had gone dull: check
The thump test produced a dull “thud”: check
The underside turned yellow: check
So I dithered…..
This morning I picked it.
Should have gone by the other tendril, the flesh has only the barest tint of pink, and since these are the Sugar Baby’s it should be nice and red.
Oh well. There’s another one on the vines thats even bigger, that has only one tendril, and a couple more a bit smaller, so we’re not totally screwed. But I’d like to get this right before I have to pick the white watermelons, since they won’t even have red flesh to cue me in!