We have several plants that came up volunteer in our garden, we let them grow, now we have big melons on the vines. My problem, how do you know that melons are ready to pick? My grandfather raised melons in east texas when we were kids we always picked and ate them but i do not know how to tell when to pick them.

I watch for the nearest two tendrils (nearest to where the stem grows out of the melon) to turn brown then pick them in the next five days or so. I've heard of "thumping" the melons to tell if they are ripe, but I can't tell a ripe thump from a green one, so I just go with the tendril test, lol.

Thank you, Grandpa used to point out which ione to pick, I think he problbly knew about the brown tendrils.