I don’t grow them but buy them from a truck on side of the road or a grocery store.
I’ve seen people pick up several, thump them, smell them then still pick another one. The truck farmer guy will say here’s a good one so what does he tell the next guy?
My question what do you look for????

I normally grow mine and don't buy a lot of them, but I would look at the field spot( where the melon touches the ground when it's growing) Pick one with a cream/yellowish color vs white as they are usually sweeter.

Theres a little curly thing growing on the vine right next to the stem. If its dead and dried up, its ripe. Belly should be white. Thumping is checking to see if its hollow. If somebody can smell when one is ripe, theyve got a good nose.

I smell cantaloupe but I thump a watermelon.

If you stick a knife in it and it wants to split its gonna be a good one.

You want a slick smooth one too. Not a fairly bumpy one. The slick ones grew correctly which will taste better. Like good DNA.

Best watermelon there is ! It was a really good year for em. Had a dozen or more over 30#. Biggest was 38# .

I am NOT a farmer by any means. The area around the stem should be starting to turn yellow, is what I have read.

I just thump em. I get it, not everybody was born with the 6th sence of watermelon thumping but I was. GF didn't believe me at first but she doesn't even try any more. But I toted way more than my fair share out of the field when I was a kid. Thumpin ain't to tell if it is hollow. Ever seen a hollow watermelon? I'm sure it is an inherited trait. Papa was a thumper too. Maybe I just learned it from him. !shiloh! that is as fine a looking watermelon as I have ever seen. Yellow meated are my favorites by far. Wish I had a good one right out of the field right now.

Most roadside and grocery store watermelons aren't fully ripe when picked. They would go bad otherwise. Back on the farm at home we would give the stem a slight pull and if it didn't fall off the vine we moved on to the next one. We planted Black Diamond and some kind of striped melon that got huge. Miss those days.

Imo it's all in the thump. Stems and curls will brown well before the Mellon is ripe. The watermelons I grow tend to turn a dull color rather than shiny when they are close to being ripe. When you thump a ripe Mellon you can hear and feel it reverberate through the whole Mellon. Un ripe Mellons with sound tight or solid.

Thanks tridave. Come August, lord willing, I'll have a big ole goodun ready for you!

If youve never seen a hollow watermelon, youve never grown many. It happens alot when it rains too much at the wrong time, sometimes when you let them get overripe on the vine. I always wondered why all those really big watermelon growers kept one of them thumping savants on staff, now i know.

This

To know if a watermelon is ripe all you have to do is put a broom straw or pine needle across the melon and if it turns parallel with the melon it is ripe

For you watermelon aficionados

https://youtu.be/qMZ65rNYjDw

I didn’t believe the straw thing, but this video shows some movement. I don’t understand it.