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18 Feb 19 Edith (New Zealand - temperate climate)

I have a patch of garden that was covered by polythene due to illness and I planted 3 rock melons into small holes that I made. They have flourished and there are melons galore. I think the heat from the polythene must have helped. I find that the plastic does not drain the water when it rains, and I am worried that the melons will spoil against it. I have tried to lift them and put netting and wood underneath as many as I can. Can I harvest them and will they ripen when they are off the vines. I will pick them all as there is rain coming if they will ripen themselves. They are nearly ripe as I cut one and altho it was not ripe and yellow I could eat it. They are a good size. bit in fact.

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19 Feb 19 mike (New Zealand - sub-tropical climate)

I don't believe they will ripen if picked unless they have started to ripen already. Rockmelons will break from the vine fairly easily when starting to ripen. A rather gentle pull and they will come away from the vine. A bit hard to tell when to pick without this sign. At this stage a good down pour of rain and they will take up heaps of water and split. Melons seem to take a long time from growing to a good size and to then ripening. I had some ripening the last 4-6 weeks and most just split or just went rotten. They are a spring crop in SE QLD Australia. Good luck.

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23 Feb 19 Edith (New Zealand - temperate climate)

thankyou for your answer. The forecast was for days of rain so I snipped them off and they are in the shed which gets pretty warm. The info on them splitting in rain is valuable thankyou and I am glad I have taken the gamble and picked them as it is solid rain for days. I will put an update on if and how they ripen when it happens. thanks again.

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