Have you looked close to see if there are aphids? I've never seen ants eat plants, but aphids do, and ants like to "farm" aphids... usually when i see ants, it means aphids are there.

Just an idea!

Turns out it is aphids. Those little green bugs on the underside of the leaves. What can I do to get rid of aphids?

Buy some Neem oil spray. Spray it on the whole leaf surface, top and bottom. Neem works will keep them from reproducing. It's an organic way to handle it. You may have to repeat once a week until they are gone. I have a 1 gallon sprayer with a wand - for that purpose. It makes it easier to get under the leaves of the plants. Neem keeps the bugs in check, and it seems to acts as a fairly good preventative for most foliar diseases. I spray just about everything in my garden with this stuff. Just dont spray the flowers of your plants. It can affect the beneficial pollinating insects in your garden.

Tim

I tried some sprays on aphids, and experienced leave damage. What I just did that worked- I bought a dirt devil vacuum (little hand vacuum for computer keyboard $20) and I vacuum them off my squash..works great and doesn't damage the buds or fruit or leaves !!

patiofarmer - where did you get the
vac?

LOL--my neighbors ALREADY think I'm nuts--just have to make sure they aren't around when I decide to vac the garden!!!!!

I got the vacuum from Walmart on line...called the Dirt Devil Hand Detailer...$19.99. it's battery operated (comes with charger) and a small brush attachment.(brush attachment is worthless.
I vacuum the aphids off gently with up and down motion and end up with 100 or so off of 3 plants. Then I open up the vacuum (easy to do) and dump out the little filter on the concrete patio and bug-spray em!

Sorry, aphids don't eat leaves. They suck on them.

Look for slugs, snails, caterpillars or beetles. Night searches may help you find the culprits.