Unfortunately, the best way to learn is to pull a lot of them. I look for a combination of the following; Dulling of the skin on the melon, very browned tendrils near the stem, yellowing (on some types whitening) of the belly, and a hollow sound when thumped. Seems like every type of melon has slightly different combinations of these characteristics so there really is no sure fire methods that I know of. The thumping technique is the most accurate in my opinion but takes a lot of practice; if you think a melon is ripe thump or knock on it and then compare to a slightly smaller melon that you know is not ripe to give you a reference "sound". Even with all these hints, pulling watermelons is an art; When growing melons for the first time, you may want to try "Black Diamond"; easy to grow, taste good, and when the belly turns yellow, they are ready. I have read that melons will ripen some after pulling but at a much lower quality than if vine ripened. Melons ripen from the but end first and most will have black seeds when fully ripe. What kind of melons are you growing?

Those are some of my favorites; In my opinion, charleston grays are by far the hardest to tell when ripe: good luck!

Chuck, I love black diamonds. Do you have seed to sell?

Where is Barry, TX?

Pat

So, we're neighbors.

Pat A