I’ve seen this photo circulating all over and i don’t believe it to be true.
I’m Mien but came from Thailand and basically of Chinese descent. Never heard of this and my family never stopped farming so i know a little bit of a lot of things but not a lot of everything. This is one I’ve not heard.
Also i would have to say it would depend on the weather wherever you are.
In Colorado, a rock like the ones photographed would cook a Melon at high noon in the summer. Even during mild summers here in western Washington state, you can’t walk barefoot on the cement or on rocks unless you’re right on the waters edge or your feet will burn. I want to say anywhere that gets over 75 degrees regularly and rocks are too hot for the feet so I’m assuming it’ll burn melons as it does our skin.
Also as far as I’ve read, a fruit’s sweetness is from genetics, how much food its gotten during the growth and ripening periods (soil conditions), sun exposure and the amount of irrigation it gets as well. A happy fruit is a healthy plant. I can’t imagine a tiny rock protecting a Melon like that from anything. It would be like saying a dab of sunscreen on your fingers will protect your entire hand from the sun.
I can already tell from the photo by the leaves and stems of the plant that it’s not as happy as it can be. Therefore, not living up to its potential. Like people, when we get enough of our needs met, we excel more than those who were disadvantaged. Although some of us are more vigorous than others and vice versa, we all have needs that must be met mentally and foodie wise 
Also there’s nothing natural about putting a rock on top of something. That’s man-made interference and man’s interference with crops. There’s nothing natural about a rock being on top of a melon 
so that last line doesn’t even make sense
Weak physics on this I’d say. Yes the rock absorbs heat but it comes from the sun’s radiation much more than the melon. It would create a hot spot on the melon where it touches as opposed to removing heat from the melon.
A cute story all the same.
The more i read it, the more things i find wrong with it all…
“Stimulates the fruit’s ripening process making it sweeter” - this is not how any of it works 
if anything, stimulating the ripening process would only make it ripen quicker. It wouldn’t make it sweeter.
Tiny rocks to keep it from being stolen? By who? Ants?
When has a melon ever rolled over on its own except when moved by some force… wouldn’t that force be strong enough to move the rock too?
Stone absorbing heat… does it absorb all of the heat around and then concentrate it to that one spot it’s on and burn it… cause if it’s absorbing that it has to hang out somewhere too or get turned into something.
I’ve been up for 2 days now and this has me thinking 
I’m so desperate to get melons I would just about try anything.
Last season, I tried to grow many types of melons, got one tiny sugar baby watermelon that was filled with seeds.
I have a short season. I’m going to try to get an earlier start this year but I’m not trying sugar baby watermelon again.
I just ordered some new variety seeds.
I gotcha 
i grew a bunch of melons in Colorado Springs with less than 120 days of a growing season the last few years.
Otome, lemon drop, all the ones under 6 lbs do great with a short season. These two are watermelon types
Madhu ras, charantaise - i probably spelt this wrong, and petit grines - definitely wrong spelt… are good Melon-melons for short seasons.
Trellis them with old bras or panty hose they’re happiest not on the ground
These are small and great for individuals and 2 ppl sharing. If you’re short on time, i wouldn’t do anything that is described past 6 lbs
I trellised mine with critter fencing. It’s super weak but worked
some of these were later in the season and the plants started dying for the fall but man did they taste good
It would make a yellow spot and pontentially a dent in the melon, wouldn’t it? Watermelons love scorching heat, they don’t need protection from it. They are originally from extremely hot parts of Africa and soak in that sun. Also heat travels up not down, a rock would transfer very little heat below it (if heat traveled down through rocks mud brick and stone roofs would just bake humans). It would make a lot more sense to put a melon on top of a rock slab, keeping it from direct soil contact, giving it a strong uniform base, and pontentially keeping it warmer at night.
I bought little black sitting things to put my melons who decided to be on ground. I put my melons on top of it so that it’s not sitting on the cool ground. It worked really well actually but you’re right. I did put it on bottom when normally my bottom was grass and very cool. It was black so it heated up the area around it as well. Overall though, my trellised melons were the best 
i would get about 3 a day for an entire month and a few days. I direct sow too. The indoor started ones weren’t happy. The direct sow were happiest
I only see an image of a cherry tree? I don’t see a melon in your photo
Well, I thought this was going in a different direction. My first thought was @Melon has gotten into rock collecting.
I think this is the ad for the “miracle cherry” that continues to appear on YouTube almost every time I log on. Too good to be true most likely. Any thoughts?? Randy/GA
little do you know… I DO HAVE A PET ROCK COLLECTION!!!
But it’s more gemstones though
That is what I was thinking also, that it is too good to be true.
Yes, it’s a cherry tree ad, I know it’s not in the right subject, but I keep seeing it and it would be really nice if that existed but I think it doesn’t exist.
short season here too. my melon patch is the hottest part of my place, full sun. I use a lot of straw around when I put them out and old boards between them to put the melons up on. and those board get hot in the day time where the sun hits so it warms earlier in the day and the whole patch a little warmer at night.
I start them real early too in pots inside then try not to mess with the roots putting them out. I get a few more ripe melons that way.
I did trellis last year but it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference to the boards
edit
a lot of the unbelievable stuff is AI written or AI images. it’s really bad in gardening ads and articles these days and only likely to be worse as time goes on
Oh yeah, that cherry tree is heavily photoshopped so i wouldn’t trust the people trying to advertise it