[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I'm Cynthia Schnitzer, been growing orchids for about 45 years. Now that I am retired, I am on my second orchid passion. First time around was when I got my first greenhouse (GH) 28 years ago in S. Calif. One of my two very first orchids lived all those years until I built the GH. No thanks to myself of course. It was a B. nodosa and spent the years I was away at college hanging from a faucet and got spritzed by my mom every so often. My 11' X 14' GH got filled really fast, and I was importing orchids from places like Thailand and India, selling them at fairs, but never made any money that wasn't spent on orchids. Finally had to slow down because I felt I needed to spend more time with my family. During my slow years, the plants coasted along in a completely automatic GH. But unseen insect infestations took their toll on the plants.

Now I'm retired, we moved my remaining plants to Prescott, AZ 3 years ago, when I started my second orchid passion, and am operating a temporary 8' X 12' GH that is already over filled. I am particularly interested in species. About 1 & 1/2 years ago, I founded the Prescott Orchid Society, which is now at about 30 members.

For a little more detail on me, I was an infra-red, then microwave, test engineer for 25 years. The height of my work experience was as the test engineer for the ASAT sensor. The ASAT was an anti-satillite device that was tested successfully by shooting down a still functioning solar observation satillite that was a year past its planned life span. I think there are a few astronomers out there that are still mad at us for ending their project so abruptly and unexpectedly. Cynthia