There is no evidence that bees sting watermelons and cause a mark on the outer flesh that signifies sweetness. However, it may be that pollination by bees affects the sweetness of watermelons.
What do bee marks look like on watermelon?
Bee Stings and White Scars – Look for these little guys. These little marks show that it’s sweet enough that even the bees were trying to get to the inside. The stings look like brown lines or dots on the melon.
Are the scratches on watermelon from bees?
Come to find out, bees can actually help determine the ripeness of a watermelon! The scarring on the outside of the rind occurs from numerous bee stings, signifying the fruit is ripe. The more scarring indicates an increased number of bees that were attracted to it. So remember that scarring is a good thing.
What do bees do to watermelons?
Pollination by bees is critical for a successful watermelon crop. While the Eu- ropean honey bee is often used effectively to pollinate watermelon (at 2 hives per acre), native bees are also significant pollinators.
What do scratches on watermelon mean?
Look for those weblike/brown scratch-like spots. These mean that bees touched the pollinating parts of the flower many times, so brown scratches/spots mean more pollination, aka that the watermelon will likely be sweeter!
What are the brown patches on a watermelon?
Watermelon rind necrosis is characterized by the presence of a corky, red to brown layer of dead tissue that occurs on the inside of the rind of affected fruit but that does not extend into the fruit flesh. Early stages of rind necrosis can be noticed as small discolored water soaked areas in the rind.
How do I pick a good watermelon?
You want to find the melon that is heavy for its size. This usually means it will be sweeter and will have more water content. Look for an orange creamy field spot. The darker yellow field spot usually means it was on the vine longer and is full of flavor.
How can you tell if a watermelon is pollinated?
How Can You Tell if a Watermelon Has Been Pollinated?
- Watermelon vines produce both male and female flowers.
- Pollen from the male flowers must reach the flowers of the female plants for pollination to occur.
- The presence of swelling at the pistil’s base is a telltale sign that pollination has occurred.
How can you tell if a watermelon is crisp?
Instructions
- Find the Field Spot – Look for a deep yellow color.
- Pick a Dull Looking Watermelon – A shiny appearance indicates an underripe melon.
- Knock on It with Your Knuckles – Your knuckles should bounce off the melon, and the surface should be pretty hard/firm.
Why do you tap on watermelon?
Another way to check the ripeness is by the sound a watermelon makes when you tap or slap it.
Do seedless watermelons need a pollinator?
Because seedless watermelon are not self-pollinating, pollenizers, or diploid watermelon crops, must be included in production to provide pollen, which is then transferred by bees to flowers of seedless melons.
How do you tell the difference between a male and female watermelon flower?
Watermelon Flowers: Male Vs. Female
Watermelon plants either produce male or female flowers. You can tell the difference between flowers reasonably quickly by looking behind the flower. Female flowers have a bulge that looks almost like a tiny watermelon. This bulge is the ovary of the flower.
How can you tell when a watermelon is ready to be picked?
Tricks to Tell if a Watermelon is Ripe
- The green color becomes dull.
- On a striped melons, the color between the stripes gets darker.
- The rind will get hard.
- The blossom end will soften.
- They will stop getting larger.
- The ground spot will turn from white to yellow.
What does the yellow spot on a watermelon tell you?
A pale yellow or cream spot indicates ripeness, while a pale green or white spot indicates immaturity. Scratch the surface of the rind with your thumbnail. If the outer layer slips back with little resistance, showing the green-white under the rind, the watermelon is ripe.
Why is one side of a watermelon yellow?
Yellow flesh on your watermelon might come as quite a surprise since the exterior doesn’t look any different than the red variety. The flesh of watermelons turning yellow is a natural mutation. In fact, the originator of our commercial variety, which comes from Africa, is a yellow to white fleshed fruit.
Can you eat watermelon with brown spots?
Even if the exterior looks OK, there’s a chance that the fruit could have gone bad. If the flesh has noticeable dark spots or is covered in anything slimey, you should toss it. If it looks fine but has a sour or ~off~ smell, that’s another indication that this watermelon is no good.
What does an infected watermelon look like?
Bacterial fruit blotch infection on mature watermelon fruit appears first as a small, dark green stain on the upper surface, left. Initially the infection does not extend past the rind.
Why are my watermelon turning brown?
A lack of calcium ultimately causes rapidly developing cells in fruits to collapse on themselves, turning the blossom end of the watermelon into a black, leathery lesion. Blossom rot in watermelons is caused by a lack of calcium, but simply adding more calcium isn’t going to help the situation.
What’s the best month to buy watermelon?
But the best time to buy is between May and September. That’s when production kicks in for the four top watermelon-growing states—Florida, Texas, California, and Georgia—which account for two-thirds of the U.S. crop and keep supermarket bins consistently full.
What color watermelon is the sweetest?
According to the experts at the Watermelon Board, yellow and orange watermelons are generally sweeter than those with pink or red flesh. Seedless watermelons tend to have a crisper texture than those with seeds, they add.
What is the tastiest watermelon?
25 of the Best Watermelon Varieties
- Picnic. Allsweet. Charleston Gray. Crimson Sweet.
- Icebox. Blacktail Mountain. Bush Sugar Baby. Sweet Beauty.
- Personal. Golden Midget. Little Darling.
- Giant. Black Diamond Yellow Belly. Carolina Cross #183.
- Seedless. Big Tasty. Mini Piccolo.
- Orange, Yellow, or White Flesh. Orange Crisp. Orangeglo.