This is my favorite red fleshed watermelon due to a number of reasons.
It’s a Crimson Sweet type, but, as the name implies, grows to be quite
large. This one weighed in just under 40 lbs. It’s consistently sweet and
delicious and sizes down well. A 10lb. one is just as delicious as a 40 lb.
melon. Many red fleshed melons don’t size down well, and some won’t even ripen, unless they develop to full size. The largest BS I’ve ever grown was 67 lbs. As you can see, it doesn’t have a lot of seeds and has a full cavity, with no empty spaces. Except for the rind, you get all meat.
The full melon pic is a little deceiving, due to the fact that I just pulled this
from the refrigerator, where it has been sitting for the past three days. So it’s
showing a bit of exterior frostiness. I’m having this for lunch and I wish I could send a slice to every one, because whatever you’re having for lunch, you’ll set it aside for this
That looks awesome.
Dude, you’re eating a 40# watermelon for lunch??? Crap!!!
My stomach isn’t quite that big, I only had 1/4 of it.
Looks like you picked it at peak ripeness. Any tips on picking watermelons that you can share? That has to be one of the most appetizing pictures of a watermelon I have ever seen.
There is no hard and fast rule, and each variety of melon is different.
Over the years, the most reliable method for me, for all melons, is I look
for a change in color on the under side, and most importantly, I look for
the part of the vine next to the melon to start to die. Then I know it’s dead
ripe and will not ripen any further.
Man I never do that. By the time the vine starts to die the melon is way past ripe. I started harvest two months ago and still don’t have vines dying to any significant degree.
You haven’t had the drought I’ve had, either. But it’s the most fool proof
system that I use. Furthermore, I stagger my planting, and when the old vines start to die, the new ones take over. I already have a second crop starting to grow on both cantaloupes and watermelons. By the time I’ve eaten all of the first crop and am ready for change in fruit, such as my pears which are starting to ripen, the secondf crop of melons will be ready to start harvesting, when I get tired of eating pears. I’m also still harvesting peaches, and some pluots, which have been a major disappointment for me.
delete
It’s the most fool proof method that works for me, and that’s what the poster
asked. When I use the term “dead ripe,” it means “perfectly ripe” for picking.
You let yours’ go beyond that point. That’s why it rotted.