When I got my vanda orchids a year and a half ago, I thought I knew what I was doing. I treated them just like my phalaenopsis orchid: I put them in orchid potting mix, sited them in filtered sunlight, and kept them moist at all times. Little by little they turned to mush and died.
Way too late, I found out the correct way to treat vadas: Vandas do not grow in orchid mix. They grow strapped to a chunk of wood. They do not like filtered sunlight. They need full, baking sun. And they especially do not like moist conditions. Constant moisture makes them rot.
Even though I pulled it out of the wet potting mix and put it in full sun, my last remaining vanda has died. Dang.
I’m sorry for your loss. I’m relieved that that’s not a dead wasp, though, because that’s what I thought it was. The title led me to believe you battled a whole swarm!
I needed to read here that there are at least a few things you don’t yet know how to grow…but now it sounds like you would if you had another vanda (note to self: for his 40th birthday…). So, again, is there nothing you can’t grow?
[A moment of silence in memoriam…]
Well. Dang.
I think you should get another, now that you’ve learned to take care of them.
And after that you can get a puppy.