Catching the “Slip”: When to Pick Greenhouse Melons
Aleksan9ra said on Dec 15, 2021:
As for melons, they turn out very tasty here in the Moscow region. However, you have to pick them when they are perfectly ripe. If they are underripe, they are bitter as quinine; if they are overripe, they turn into mealy cotton. I always buy the exact same type and always the earliest one available.
Lyuda, how do you catch that exact moment? With watermelons, you can at least somewhat go by the number of days, but with melons, it’s totally unclear.
This year I waited for them to turn completely yellow, and I think I was wrong. Last year, my melons didn’t have time to ripen on the vine because they were growing in a different greenhouse without direct sun. I had to pick them green. But they counter-ripened beautifully indoors and were soooo delicious!
Tanya, first of all, I always go by the smell. Secondly, I test the melon when trying to harvest it; if it just falls into your hands when you try to detach it (the “slip” stage), it’s ripe. You have to pull pretty hard to get an unripe melon off the vine. And the characteristic color, of course.
My Bravura melons hung on the vine for a long time. They stay green and don’t really have much of a smell. I eventually picked them, but I probably could have taken them off earlier since they are great storage melons. They sat at home for another month, probably.
Aleksan9ra said on Dec 15, 2021:
Tanya, first of all, I always go by the smell. Secondly, I test the melon when trying to harvest it; if it just falls into your hands… [quote truncated]
Yeah, I seem to be doing exactly that 😊 I walk around and touch them every day. As soon as it drops into my hand, it’s ready. But somehow they still managed to get overripe. Or did they lack flavor this year for some other reason? 🤔 Because a lot of melon growers around St. Petersburg had this exact problem. And specifically with certain hybrids. My Piel de Sapo (Bravura, Reymel) and cantaloupe (Ambrosia) turned out delicious though…..
Da4nitsa said on Dec 15, 2021:
My Bravura melons hung on the vine for a long time. They stay green and don’t really have much of a smell… [quote truncated]
Those Bravura melons are like that, they have a very distinct rind. Piel de Sapo literally translates to “toad skin” 😕
PomiTa said on Dec 15, 2021:
Yeah, I seem to be doing exactly that 😊 I walk around and touch them every day. As soon as it drops into my hand, it’s ready… [quote truncated]
Tanya, at first I tried all sorts of different kinds too. But when I realized that a melon setting fruit in August isn’t always a good thing for our climate zone and carries big risks, I just stopped buying mid- and late-season hybrids. Plus, I pinch off the growing tips as early as possible so they ripen in July.
But my experience growing them inside a greenhouse is quite small, and not everything turned out the way I wanted.
