I picked another OG+WW today at 40-41 days. It is overripe. So, my conclusion after several misses is that OG and Og+WW need about 35-36 days from fruit set to ripen.
Fortunately, this one is not too overripe. The middle is a little soft but the rest is crisp and very sweet. Brix was 11.5.
I don’t know about Crimson Sweet. The first one we picked was quite underripe. @thecityman, do you think I should count 100 days from the day I planted it to the day I pick? I planted all my watermelons on June 9. Should I pick CS around Sept 17?
Years ago …I grew a small yellow flesh watermelon ,that had a paper thin rind.
The way you could tell if they were ripe was to squeeze them , they would bust wide open. Delicious !
Lost my seed …and the name…
Does anyone know what the variety may have been ?
I’ve been trying to think of ways to tell if a watermelon is ripe on the vine. What about the following idea? → Use a sterile syringe to extract some juice from a watermelon while still on the vine, then measure the Brix reading of the juice. If it is 10 or less, leave it go a few days and try again until it reaches 12 or 13 (or more). You could cover the pin prick with waterproof tape. I thought of this awhile ago but haven’t been brave enough to try it.
A 20lb all sweet. My large melons are almost all gone but the vines are covered in blooms and small melons, maybe some will beat the end of the season.
Tippy- sorry, I hadn’t logged on for a few days. The good news about Crimson Sweet is that it is much more forgiving than Orange Glo in terms of when it can be picked. It has a considerably longer window that it is good. If you err on it, I’d try to err on the side of giving it too much time rather than too little. That is because once it gets ripe, it will stay at peak or near peak condition for as much as 10 days or even 2 weeks! While I’ve already said I’m not sure counting days is a viable method, if other signs indicate ripeness then yes, I think 100 days is about right…at least it is for me down here in KY/TN. Someone is likely to remind us that the official harvest time for CS is 85 days and certainly a CS may be ripe in 85 days. But it also may not, and since it holds its ripeness quite a while, I think you’d have a good chance at 100 days. But again, the whole day counting makes me nervous because there are so many things that can change the length of time it takes a melon to ripen. I’ve had them ripe in about 85 and in 105.
BTW, in my experience you should not count the days you started the seeds in doors, or at least only give those days “partial credit”. No matter how big you get them inside or how early you start them, in my experience the clock really doesn’t start until they are planted outside, in the sun.
As usual, I wish there were better ways to tell folks how to know when to pick a melon. As you are finding out it is tricky, but you are learning and over time you’ll be able to spot a ripe melon, but even then you won’t be able to tell someone else how to do so. ha! Good luck!
Thanks, Kevin. I took note when I planted my watermelons inground. 100th day will be around Sept 17. I have 4 very large Crimson Sweet from one plant that set fruit only a few days apart. The funny thing is the one that set fruit later is bigger than its older siblings.
I may try to pick the first one a few days early. If that melon is underripe, I still have three more to try. I don’t want to pick the first one overripe. The rest would be a disaster.
I think that is an outstanding plan! And btw, it isn’t at all uncommon for melons that set later to be larger than their older “sisters” on the same plants. They will also ripen out of order, as I’ve said, which is why I’m dubious of trying to count days from set to harvest…it varies by melon and depends on a lot of things besides length of time on the vine.
But yes, I think you should pick one of your melons earlier for reasons you mentioned. One thing to consider besides time on the vine or even size is how long has the melon been the same size. IE, a bigger melon which has still been growing is likely to be less ripe than a smaller one which stopped growing some time ago. Along with the other signs we’ve talked about for determining ripeness is noticing how long it has been since a melon has gotten larger/stopped growing.
I really have my fingers crossed for your CS! They are one of the best red melons out there IMHO so I hope you get a good, sweet, ripe one.
I think if the melon were liquid inside this would work. But the liquid is tied up in the flesh, and, you have to squeeze the flesh to release it to brix it. Perhaps a thick syringe that you can wiggle around to ‘juice’ up the flesh will yield some juice. Just my thoughts.
Mine are still growing. These are 4 remaining Crimson Sweet. Picked two unripe. The first unripe was weeks away from ripening. The second one was about 94-95 days. A bit unripe but edible.
Later today we will pick another one as today is the 100th day.
