How do you know when a cantaloupe in your garden is ready to pick?

Question

like signals of ripeness

Answer 1

when a knife is put in and it comes out very easy and clean

Answer 2

Cantaloupe will ripen after it's picked, if it isn't picked too early.  Make sure it doesn't have any green color left on the rind, or at the most very little green.

Once you've picked it, you can sniff the stem end of the cantaloupe.  If you smell cantaloupe, it's ready to eat!

Answer 3

At least for us in the Midwest, you will have melon bugs in the melon before you realize that it is ready to pick.  When you suspect that the melon is getting to the point where it will soon be ready, put a plastic lid (like from a cottage cheese container) underneath it.  Melon bugs are in the soil and burrow in from underneath.  One thing to watch, though, is that if you get rain that you dump the water out of these.

When you melon is ready, it will slip off the vine when you pick it up.  Given the stem is rather slender, you don't want to apply pressure or else the stem will snap/bend and allow easy access for bacteria, fungi, and viruses to get in and cause the fruit to rot.

Answer 4

BMP is right folks.  While you can pick the melon and ripen it in the kitchen it's at it's best eating when it "slips" the vine.  In additon to watching the color, if you put on a bit of tension and the fruit comes off the stem it is perfect.

Answer 5

if you lift it up with a little tension on it and it comes off the vine easy it is ready....

Answer 6

If you want really clean melons pick at half slip meaning when you give the melon a good tug the stem partially breaks away from the melon.Than let the melon ripen at room temp out of direct sunlight.

It is fully ripe at full slip, when the stem easily comes off the melon. The melon, at this point, should have a yellow hue to the skin and when you smell the blossom end there should be a heavenly aroma