HOW TO TELL A WATERMELON IS RIPE FOR HARVEST

Knowing when a watermelon fruit is ripe can be somewhat difficult since unlike mango or paw paw, the outer skin of Watermelon fruits does not turn yellow when they are ripe for harvest.

A farmer complained bitterly of how she enjoyed seeing her watermelon plants flourish but at some point, out of curiosity she harvested some of her big watermelon fruits only to see that they are still white inside. This was a very sad experience for a dedicated farmer.

It’s best not to rely on the “thump” method(slightly beating the watermelon fruits at intervals to check if it produces different sound which could possibly give a clue if it’s ripe, over-ripe or un-ripe) because it is simply favoured by chance, it doesn’t always work.

Instead, take a look at these 3 telltale signs:

• One of the best clues is to look at the spot with which the melon has been resting on the ground. It is usually light green or white at the beginning of the fruiting stage of the plant. When it begins to turn bright yellow, it’s a sign of ripeness. Be careful not to turn your melon often when you check the coloring underneath else you may damage the vine or outrightly pluck out the fruit. Gently raise the fruit up enough to look under it. As you well know, watermelon plants do not enjoy being stepped on when they’re in their vegetative stage. This means you have to be extra careful when checking your watermelon for ripeness.

• When watermelon begins to ripe, you would notice that the green, curly tendrils near the head of the watermelon starts drying out or turning brown. This is a sign to look out for because it has proven to be reliable over time. Harvest the fruit before the tendrils dry out completely because this could mean over ripening.

• The surface color of watermelon fruits may appear light green in colour instead of dark green. Do not mistake this for nutritional deficiency especially if your watermelon is nearing maturity stage,it’s a sign you should pay attention to.

Do not mistake the wilting of watermelon leaves which happens when the sun is up as a sign of maturity, because this is normal because they usually recover in the cool of the day.

Endeavour to limit watering the watermelon plants 7 days before harvesting, this reduces the quantity of water in the watermelon fruits and so concentrates the sweetness of the watermelon, this also speeds up the ripening of the watermelon fruit.

Again, take note of the date you planted your watermelon (Check our post on the MATURITY PERIOD OF WATERMELON) as this will provide useful insight as to when to start practicing the steps listed above.

Practice these steps and the days of harvesting your watermelon fruits unripe due to uncertainty are over

Let us know your experiences in the comment box.