Ralph Snodsmith, the jolly green thumb of radio, is gently introducing Milton from Spokane to the facts of life-horticulturally speaking.
Milton wants to grow yellow watermelons in his greenhouse this winter.
”Remember,” Snodsmith says, his precise but folksy accent oozing sincerity as he explains the secrets of pollination, ”you have to be the bee.
”What you look for is the difference between the two blossoms. The male is on a long, pencil-like petiole. And the female is on a very short little petiole.
”So what you have to do is catch a male blossom that`s open, and take that male blossom over and dingle it over the female blossom that`s wide open. In other words, be the bee.”
Milton says solemnly, ”I understand.”
Every Sunday for three hours, Snodsmith, the gardening guru, counsels people just like Milton on his nationally syndicated talk show, ”The Garden Hotline.” Chicagoans can hear him on WLS-AM (890) from noon to 3 p.m.
Not all topics are as delicate as Milton`s, but they run the gamut, and Snodsmith handles callers` questions like the floriculture and ornamental horticulture expert he is.
Wanda`s rubber plant has a skinny stem. Increase the rate of feeding, Snodsmith suggests, and give it some unflavored gelatin.
Loretta`s trees are being eaten alive, but she can`t find any bugs on them. Snodsmith suggests the culprit might be the leaf skeletonizer, which does its dirty work at night.
”Take that flashlight out at 11 o`clock at night, and you may find the critter,” he says. ”Thank you Loretta, and you have a good day.”
He instructs Raymond in the gardening golden rule: plan before you plant. Appropriately enough, Snodsmith`s radio career began 23 years ago at WRKL-AM, a small AM radio station in Rockland County, N.Y., where he was serving as the area`s cooperative extension agent. Even though he`s big-time now, with his show broadcast regionally over New York`s 50,000-watt WOR-AM and nationally over ABC radio, he`s still a weekly regular on WRKL.
”That`s where I started,” he says. ”It`s one way I can say `thanks` to the people that got me going.”
These days, Snodsmith receives thousands of pieces of mail a week, many containing backyard samples.
”You ought to see what a mealy bug looks like after it`s been through the canceling machine,” he says.
A listener once sent him a single blade of grass taped to a 3 x 5 card.
”It read, `Dear Mr. Snodsmith, Please tell me what`s killing my lawn,”`
Snodsmith recalls.
Snodsmith responds to all written queries that come with self-addressed stamped envelopes. It`s such personal touches, he believes, that have helped to make him a success.
”I try to be common and courteous,” he says, ”and I don`t demean anybody. For every call I get, the first thing I do is assume the person knows nothing, and work from there.”
Once, his assumption wasn`t far from the truth, he says.
”A woman called me and said, `Mr. Snodsmith, I`ve got a plant. What is it?` At first I couldn`t speak, I was laughing so hard. Then I calmed down, and said, `Ma`am, I apologize, but there are 13,000 species of plants.
”Then, she said, `It`s got a green leaf and a skinny stem.` `Well,` I thought, `that`s progress.”`
