Hi Guys, I am a 3 year Gardner that used to travel and have had bad luck with neighbors you name it. I have grown beautiful tomatoes , marigolds etc. Armature stuff. Now I have been back home for 2 months and have grown 4 sunflowers the smallest at 5 ft bloomed and all the flower fell off due to excessive rain so is all that's left is the face with green sides. I can post pics. My pepper plants are in my front yard facing west ( noon and after sun) have holes in the leaves like they are being eaten. I thought it was slugs and put out yeast and sugar water add drew nothing but ants. The same goes for my back patio where my sunflowers are growing in a large pot with my green peppers. My peppers are like vines and are chasing the sunflower up its stalk. But I can see ants crawling.All of my leaves even my cherry tomato plant started showing signs of discoloration of leaves and that's a hung planter.My snap peas came up beautifully got about 7 feet and died from the root up. All seeds were bought online or home depot. online seed is hit or miss for weeds but I tend to my garden. I use cow manure as well as miracle grow plus fertilizer, as well as use dead foliage. Weeds are killing me, roundup is not helping Please help me!!!!!!!!!!

Ants on a plant often means that there are aphids present and the ants are milking them. They are feeding on the sticky residue that the aphids produce from sucking the juices from your plant. Look under the leaves to find the aphids. A spray with insecticidal soap that may have to be repeated will kill the aphids and the ants will disappear. Ants do not eat plants. They will feed on nectar on some plants like peony or on nectar from aphids

Carol, you are right about caterpillars doing better in cool weather with the wasps disappearing. I have found 2 'wild' caterpillars in the last couple of days...the first living ones I have found since early July. The chrysalis, which are mainly attached to my patio fence, hardly ever survive - they are often 'adopted' by a garden spider. That is why I move them to a safe place whenever I find them. I keep them right outside my window, attached to a repurposed jewelry tree, where I can watch them hatch. They are protected by a 'moat' to protect them from ants, spiders.

The following is simply pure peculation, but previous replies have been concerned only with controlling the ants, whereas I am looking at a different aspect of your original post. That said - Are you certain the ants actually are eating the caterpillars?? Perhaps something like the following is going on – although swallowtails are NOT the caterpillar species associated with ant activity. (See below.) [Or perhaps the question to ask is -- are you certain your caterpillars are swallowtail larvae? I'm sorry to suggest it since the larvae of Papilionidae & Lycaenidae families are very different in appearance & size!] Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia (I know, but…sometimes…) "A myrmecophile is an organism that lives in association with ants. Myrmecophiles may have various roles in their host ant colony. Many consume waste materials in the nests, such as dead ants, dead larvae, or fungi growing in the nest. Some myrmecophiles, however, feed on the stored food supplies of ants, and a few are predatory on ant eggs, larvae, or pupae. Others benefit the ants by providing a food source for them. Most associations are facultative, benefiting one or both participants but not being necessary to their survival, but many myrmecophilous relationships are obligate, meaning one or the other participant requires the relationship for survival. Myrmecophilous associations are best known in butterflies of the family Lycaenidae. Many lycaenid caterpillars produce nectar by specialized organs and communicate with the ants through sound and vibrations.[7] The association with ants is believed to reduce the parasitisation of the butterfly caterpillars.[8] " And even though this video from National Geographic concerns completely different butterfly species, it is fascinating to watch, none the less! Caterpillar-ant symbiosis Nature is endlessly and wondrously fascinating, mysterious, and obscure!