As other posters have said, the ants themselves do not usually directly harm plants unless their nest is right at the root system of a plant, which can harm it (otherwise their tunneling aerates the soil, which is a good thing). Aphids, however, will harm your plants by sucking the sap out of new foliage and thus stunting plant growth, and they also spread diseases. Ants do farm aphids (spreading them from plant to plant to ensure a good crop to feed on), but if you control the aphids, the ants will go elsewhere. Organic insecticidal soap is an easy and sure way to kill aphids. Be sure to spray the underside of the leaves as well. Spray until runoff, wait a few days, and spray again, until they die off. You can also squish aphids or try to just knock them off with a strong spray of water, but that's usually a never-ending battle and if you spray water, do it only in the very early morning, so plants have time to dry out before midday. If you have so many ants that they are a true nuisance, borax and powdered sugar mixed (no water in my case) and left in a large yogurt container tilted on its side will kill ants. This should be a last resort. Try the ant war, aphid control, or food diversion suggested above first (honey in a small open jar works). Diotamaceous earth (spelling?) can help too. As for the other bugs, I can't see much in the photographs, but could it be that you have powdery mildew rather than white egg sacs? Googling should turn up some P-mildew pictures. For squash bugs, here's a link to a previous discussion (see below). Looks like spraying neem might be an option if things are bad enough to warrant it. Ladybugs and spiders are the gardener's friends. Leave them alone. Here is a link that might be useful: squash bug discussion

I adore the Gulf Fritillary butterflies! My neighbors had 2 passion vines on the wood lattice topper on our shared wall. Both ornamental, no fruit. One was the classic purple flower and the other was a red flower that was more bell shaped and produced nectar that meant it was always full of ants. Well we always saw butterflies flitting about but never caterpillars. I think the ants ate them as soon as they hatched. Well the lattice was rotten and new neighbors moved in who sweetly asked if it was OK to remove it. We were more than happy since we wanted to replace wood with steel topper. But then I seriously missed the butterflies. I saw zero for a year. I missed them so much I planted a passion vine on the shared wall of the other neighbors. Just the purple flower that doesn’t have nectar so it won’t attract ants. Well for the first time in a year, I see not only butterflies but larva! I plan to cut it back to the “trunk“ each winter so it doesn’t get out of control this time. This vine is incredibly vigorous and could completely cover a carport if you let it. I don’t care about the flowers which are always there or the look of the vine, which is always green with chew holes, but my heart sings when every day I sit in the patio surrounded by the fluttering of beautiful amber butterflies. Usually 2 or 3 but sometimes 7 or 8 as I also provide nectar flowers for them. For me, the whole point of the vine is the butterflies.

Butterflies rest with their wings closed above their body Moths..... rest with their wings open on either side of their body Butterflies have antennae that look like long threads with a knot at the end Moths...... have antennae that look like feathers Butterflies are brightly coloured and very obvious Moths..... have dull colors that camouflage (blend-in) Butterflies are most active during the day Moths..... are most active at night Butterflies in the caterpillar stage, form a hardebed chrysalis Moths..... in the caterpillar stage, make soft cocoons Butterflies do not spin silk Moths ......spin silk that's all I know :) Libby

Thank you all for making me feel a little less neurotic. We went out of town for 3.5 days last week. I left watering instructions for the cat sitter, along with a detailed drawing of an Earthbox copied from the website so she couldn't possibly misunderstand. We really didn't even need the cat sitter for that short period. However, I worried about the tomatoes and seriously considered calling to have her come a second day to water them. Heck, I wanted her to come EVERY day! But everything turned out okay. The water hadn't all evaporated, and the plants were healthy and happy-looking. The sitter left this note: "Cats were glad to see me -- you have fine tomatoes." What a remarkably observant woman! Thank goodness we take our big vacation in the off-season. This is my first year growing tomatoes; all indications are that the neurosis is going to get worse with time. Christine