Nothing says summer season season like a sweet juicy homegrown watermelon. However determining when to reap your watermelon can be troublesome. If carried out too early, the melon acquired’t be sweet or edible. And for many who wait too prolonged, it may truly get mealy and gross. So, come be taught exactly when to decide on a watermelon from the yard – along with 5 indicators that it’s ripe and capable of harvest.
As you study through the file below, do not rely on anyone signal alone. The additional of these containers you’ll check sooner than harvest, the upper your watermelon may be! I’ll moreover cowl suggestions concerning the biggest answer to retailer complete and cut back watermelon after harvest. After the entire exhausting work and time you spent rising it, you’ll be rewarded with the best-tasting watermelon attainable.
RELATED: Come learn the way and when to reap butternut squash, pumpkins, and totally different winter squash – along with essential tips on curing and storage.
Does watermelon proceed to ripen after harvest?
No. In distinction to a different melons or fruit, watermelon will NOT proceed to ripen off the vine if picked too early. Which implies it could solely get as sweet (or, not sweet the least bit) because it’s on the time of harvest. Loads of the sweet style develops by the closing couple weeks on the vine, so endurance is a benefit!
5 Indicators a Watermelon is Ripe
1) Brown Tendrils
Take an in depth check out your watermelon vine. Shut to each fruit, you possibly can see a small curly vine tendril. When a watermelon is kind of ripe, the tendril closest to the melon stem will start to dry up and swap brown and crispy as an alternative of inexperienced. To play it protected, you presumably may even wait until the three closest tendrils flip brown (the one above and one below the melon too). Be mindful, this isn’t the solely indicator it’s ready though!
2) Yellow Spot
Gently flip your watermelon over. When laying on the underside, watermelons may have a giant white spot on their pores and pores and skin the place they rest on the soil. When it’s nearly time to decide on the watermelon, that spot will flip from white to yellow. The darker yellow, the additional ripe it is! This tip doesn’t apply to melons hanging from a trellis nonetheless.
3) Deep Gap Sound
For individuals who gently spank a watermelon alongside together with your hand, an underripe melon may have a additional sharp, high-pitch, flat sound. As a result of the fruit grows additional ripe and juicy, the sound will become an increasing number of deep, resonant, and hollow-sounding. This one admittedly takes considerably observe to decipher. Slap a pair melons to examine the completely totally different sounds!
4) Rind Changes
You understand it’s nearly time to reap your watermelon when the pores and pores and skin or rind turns into dull-looking. A youthful watermelon rind is usually pretty good or shiny, nonetheless modifications to a additional uninteresting or matte look as a result of it ripens.
5) Anticipated Days to Maturity
Ultimate nonetheless not least, check the stats for the variety of watermelon you’re rising! The seed packet or plant tag must file an anticipated “days to maturity” – or the timeframe you presumably can rely on it to be ready to reap.
Fully totally different varieties of watermelon can take anyplace from 65 to 120 days to mature after planting. For example, we wish to develop Blacktail Mountain watermelon, an early-maturing choice that solely takes about 75 days. Whereas local weather, soil, water, and totally different parts could have an effect on how shortly a watermelon grows and ripens, that amount must give you at least a ballpark estimate of when harvest time is near.
Tips about the right way to Harvest Watermelon
Once you’ve decided it’s time to reap your watermelon, merely use sharp scissors or yard shears to cut the stem merely above the melon to remove it from the vine. Take care to not cut back the first vine, significantly if there are nonetheless totally different melons rising on it.
What happens if I wait too prolonged to decide on a watermelon?
Thankfully, watermelons usually preserve good on the vine for a pair weeks earlier their optimum harvest window. Nonetheless, the crisp melon flesh will become an increasing number of mealy, watery, and delicate over time. For individuals who wait too prolonged, it would reduce up open or start to go unhealthy.
Tips about the right way to Retailer Total Watermelon
It’s biggest to retailer freshly-picked complete watermelon at room temperature. Choose a temperate location away from direct daylight, akin to your kitchen counter. 60 to 70 ranges Fahrenheit is correct. Like totally different warm-weather crops (along with tomatoes), watermelon’s style, prime quality, and even a number of of the nutritional vitamins can deteriorate when it’s saved in colder conditions.
If saved at room temperature, plan to eat your watermelon inside each week or two after harvest. The sooner after harvest, the upper it could type! It may last a pair weeks longer if saved inside the fridge, nonetheless on the expense of the flavour and texture. For individuals who select to eat your watermelon chilly, pop it inside the fridge for only a few hours sooner than you slender into it.
Storing Decrease Watermelon
As quickly as cut back, watermelon need to be refrigerated for meals safety. Decrease watermelon is technically good inside the fridge for about 5 days, nonetheless must be consumed inside 1 to 3 days for the perfect high quality.
Oxygen publicity causes it to shortly degrade, so keep in mind to wrap or retailer cut back watermelon in an air tight container. Holding it in greater chunks (e.g. solely chopping up one half at a time) could help lengthen the shelf life inside the fridge.
As soon as we had an extreme quantity of latest watermelon to eat sooner than it went unhealthy, we preserved it by juicing only a few to freeze the juice for refreshing future mocktails!
And with that, you already know all of the items you wish to know to decide on and retailer some delicious homegrown watermelon. I hope the next suggestions are helpful. Please be at liberty to ask questions inside the suggestions below, and glad harvesting!
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