I'd blast those eggs off with a hose, hopefully some natural predators will keep them under control in the warmer weather. For ants, I think most controls are not safe for food crops. After washing off the eggs, I would re-pot in fresh soil to break up the ant colony.

Last season had ants visiting my containers, but after I washed the concrete with a light bleach solution, they couldn't find their way back.

Your setup could be quite different, but good luck.

For ants I use the liquid ant juice thats made by Terro.I've used other brands but this stuff works best for me.
They bring it back to the nest and the colony dies.
You put a couple small puddles where they make their path.
I have to kill the colony or they farm aphids like crazy and my plants get messed up-fungus etc.
Lacewings work best to control everything else.

Almost looks like Scale...Only way to get rid of then is pick then off, or spray with oil.

I believe those are egg casings from aphids which would also explain your ant problem.

wipe them off, or spray them off.
Ladybugs work well for active aphid infestions.
Hopefully you can just wipe off and give a spray with neem or pyrithrin or something of that nature.

You could try introducing ladybugs, but they don't always cooperate out in the great outdoors..:)
kendra

I don't think it looks like scale, and it definitely looks like aphids. (Those black things -- are they moving? I don't think they're eggs. I think they're real, live aphids. The white ones, those are the egg casings.)

Smash 'em with your thumb, blast them with water, make a garlic spray, or pick up some ladybugs. My local Ace hardware just got a shipment of live ladybugs needing good homes.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I decided to try the lady bugs first. I bought some on Sat and released them sunday evening. As you can see they are hanging around pretty good so far and are scarfing on the aphids.

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Hopefully they will stick around until the aphids are gone. I heard that lady bugs do not fly at night so it's best to release them in the evening and if they find a food source they should stick around.

I have 5 plants that I managed to keep alive through the winter here in CA by covering them with plastic but this is the only plant that has eggs like this.

If the lady bugs do not work I will try the garlic mixture.

Thanks Again,
D

If your plants are outside they may leave when the aphid population decreases but will, hopefully, have laid eggs--little orange clusters under leaves-- and the aphids will have increased for the larvae.

Trick is to not use poisons that kill the good guys and to tollerate a few aphids to establish a balance.

I killed many a ladybug larvae one year, before I knew how different they look from ladybugs.....:(

I believe you can also try "feeding" your ladybugs if you run out of aphids with a sugar solution of some sort. I know you can buy ladybug food, but someone on here had a little recipe that you could mix up and place in shallow dishes around the plants.

Maybe someone will chime in with it

kendra

Here it is again

Here is the recipe I used:
* Good Bug Chow
Mix all the following ingredients together in a glass or plastic container:
2/3 cup of warm water
4 tablespoons of brewer's yeast
2 teaspoons of honey
1/2 cup of sugar
To use: Take 2 tablespoons of the mix and dilute it in 1 quart of lukewarm water. Use this solution to spray on plants in the spring and early part of summer. Remember don't spray plants when temperatures are over 80F. Store the mixture in a sealed container in the refrigerator so it won't go rancid. It will keep for 7-10 days. The sugar in it is actually good for your plants.

Since I have them in the house I didn't want tp spray the stuff all over so I reduced the water and made a paste which i put on small pieces of cardboard.

I also think it has a longer shelf life than 7-10 days.