Squash Plants Help

[loveykatie]

I have a bunch of summer squash & cucumber plants growing in containers. As well as other plants like tomatoes & peppers.

I am noticing a few things on the leaves of my squash & cucumbers.

1) I see some sort of brownish discoloration on some of the leaves as you can see in the second photo from the top.

2) I am noticing a lot of ants on them. Is this ok?

3) I also see some other little critters. No clue what they are. You can see one in the first photo and one in the third.

Here are a few pictures. Please help if you can. I don't know if I should be spraying anything or what to do.









Thanks!

[rainbowgardener]

Overall your plants pictured are looking quite healthy and happy. Good job! The second picture looks like probably some kind of insect damage, but very minor. Bugs are everywhere in nature and plants have learned to co-exist with them quite nicely. I don't see anything so far that I would do anything about.

Ants do not eat living plant material and probably won't bother your plants. They are not a problem by themselves. But they do sometimes "farm" aphids. That is they will bring aphids to your plants and tend them there (the aphids secrete a sweet substance called honeydew that the ants like). So if you have ants on your plants, do keep an eye out for aphids.

Relax; you aren't growing your plants in a laboratory. You are growing them in the real world and they are doing fine.