Square watermelons can be grown, but the cost of production makes them too expensive for the average consumer.

A recent article about watermelons in a local newspaper in another county stated that you could tell if a watermelon was ripe simply by thumping it. It is hard to imagine how so many people can get in such an uproar about a simple little statement.

After reading the article, one of my Cooperative Extension colleagues in that county sent an E-mail to all the agricultural agents in the state asking for more information about what the thump should sound like. In this day and age, it is easy to send the same message to hundreds of people at the same time using the marvels of E-mail.

Since most Extension Agents have come to rely on E-mail as a means of receiving and sharing information, it is easy to understand that most of us check our E-mail messages several times during the day. We try to respond to those that need a reply as quickly as possible to keep our E-mail inboxes from becoming overloaded.

When they received the E-mail about thumping watermelons, instead of deleting it, many of them wanted to voice their opinion. For several hours yesterday, there was a flurry of messages from across the state telling exactly how the thump should sound. You can only imagine the many different ways people can describe how to thump a watermelon and how the thump of a ripe watermelon should sound.

After reading many of the "opinions," it became obvious to me that thumping watermelons is more of a time-honored tradition. Everyone does it because they have seen other people do it. I guess it's more of a guy thing like kicking the tires of a car before you buy it. With enough experience, you can probably learn to recognize the sound you have heard before when you thumped a watermelon that turned out to be extra delicious, but it is impossible to describe that sound to someone else.

The reason I share this information with you is that locally grown watermelons are now ready. It is the 4th of July weekend, and tradition says that you must eat watermelon at least once during this weekend. I think I have read somewhere, maybe in the Constitution, that you are not an American if you don't eat watermelon during the 4th of July weekend. In the fine print, I think it also says something about hot dogs.

If you don't have a garden of your own with watermelons, you need to rush out to one of the local vegetable farms or go by the Farmers Market on Saturday morning and buy one of the locally grown watermelons. They are much more delicious than the ones in the grocery stores that were trucked in from hundreds or thousands of miles away. In addition, you will be buying from your friends and neighbors instead of perfect strangers and will be "stimulating" the local economy.

When you buy a watermelon, be sure to thump it to see if it is ripe. If you don't know what the thump should sound like, ask the farmer. If you and the farmer can figure out what the thump should sound like, please let me know. After reading all those E-mail messages, I am still a little bit confused.

In Cooperative Extension bulletin AG-06 entitled Home Vegetable Gardening, Extension Specialist Dr. Larry Bass writes, "Ripe watermelons produce a dull thud rather than a sharp, metallic sound when thumped." Maybe this will give you a hint.

Dr. Mary Peet, horticulture professor at North Carolina State University, has published many informational bulletins including Sustainable Practices for Vegetable Production in the South. In this bulletin, she states that the only indication of ripeness is that the tendrils of the leaf closest to the fruit attachment become dry. Additional ripeness indicators include a change in ground spot color from greenish-white to pale yellow.

Now that you fully understand how to tell if your 4th of July watermelon is ripe, let me share something else about watermelons for you to think about. I have seen more and more information recently about square watermelons. I can accept that many unusual things can be done with fruits and vegetables, because I have seen whole cucumbers inside a bottle with only a tiny opening. If you Google the Internet for square watermelons, you will find almost 280,000 articles, but I have never seen one personally.

The concept is great. Round watermelons are hard to handle, hard to store, and hard to transport. As watermelons begin to grow, they can be placed in square, cardboard forms. As they grow in size, they take the shape of the form. When grown, four to six square watermelons can be packed into cardboard boxes for easy storage and transport. Another good thing about square watermelons is that they will not roll off the table when you are not looking.

Don't look for square watermelons at the local farmers market but do look for one of the new seedless varieties. These watermelons are delicious and are all heart.

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July. Enjoy watermelon and hot dogs.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 7/14/08