When to pick watermelons

[Whwoz]

@Whwoz, I have no idea how accurate this photo is, but I thought of you and this thread when I saw it, lol.


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Thanks for that @rdback, it is precisely what I was thinking I would get with what we but commercially here being like the yellow 'Best' one. However this variety is ripe, and beyond ripe when at the 'Good' colour in the photo.

[Whwoz]

Cut one of the small watermelon today. This one went 4 kg/8.5 lb on the scales.

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Can't remember which side was down, but confirms to me that this variety is pick by tendril drying off rather than colour on ground contact area. Tasty, juicy and ripe.

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[rossomendblot]

'Custardy bum' was the term the farmer used when I worked picking watermelons in Australia. We didn't have time to roll each melon over to check it before picking, though, so we typically judged ripeness by the stem attachment point becoming smaller and more defined. The variety we picked the most was very dark green and it was difficult to learn which ones to pick with the farmer's son walking alongside you saying "Nope" all the time without explaining much. I preferred picking the 'pollies' aka the long stripy ones, which they mostly used to help pollinate the other variety.

One time I saw a box of some of our watermelons in the local supermarket. When I looked at the label they had travelled all the way to Brisbane and then back to the town the farm was located, so a 10 hour round trip.