And by "pea trellis" I mean "leftover tomato cage repurposed for the peas."

I'd just add that if the next 2 tendrils down the line are also brown and the leaf that's attached to the melon/tendril joint is old and a bit ragged looking that's also another indicator that it could be ripe.

If that's a shriveled brown tendril I see in the picture, then it's ripe. That's the best indicator of ripeness.

It's not infallible though. I've picked a few watermelons with shriveled brown tendrils that weren't fully ripe, but it usually works!

The brown tendril is the second step in determining ripeness. The first step is that it has ceased growing. Small melons are harder to tell on by plumping and plinking. By plumping, I mean that you use both hands, one on each side, to plump the melon to hear the sound. A cream colored bottom is usually import...with the larger melons especially.

I tend to give a little extra time if in doubt...sometimes to a fault.

Hey, vegking, Willhite has substituted Sweetheart melon for Raspa. I raised a couple of Sweethearts and they are pretty close to Raspa. Also Willhite sells Dulce now. It is a long melon that is pretty good, maybe not quite Raspa qualty. I also planted a Mountain Sweet yellow melon. It was sweet and a nice change. Also I like Yellow Crimson for a change up from red flavors.

Thanks for the tips Wayne, I got an Ad from them a few days ago promoting Sweetheart and was wondering if that was the same thing as Raspa. Seems I recall that Raspa used to be named Sweetheart but there was some copyright challenge so they renamed it Raspa. Maybe that case was settled? Willhite will also offer Goldstrike again but for now they are out of stock. It has been an excellent melon season here compared to last year which was a bust for me.

I have raised Goldstrike. It is a good grower. Sometimes it has excellent taste and sometimes not...here.