DelawareDave you need to do something right quick or your plants are toast. Spray the plants down real well with a hose, apply your favorite aphid killer then find the ant hills and pour some vinegar down the hole. Don't wait any longer either.
I have used every "natural" pesticide with mixed results. Works the day you spray it on then the next day the aphids are back. Did that for a few years and finally last year went NBC on them. (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) and haven't had an issue since. Yeah I probably killed a few beneficial bugs too. Thing is when you don't have aphids or any other prey bug the predators aren't around either so the kill off of those is minimal. Makes sense in my head anyways.
I have used every "natural" pesticide with mixed results. Works the day you spray it on then the next day the aphids are back. Did that for a few years and finally last year went NBC on them. (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) and haven't had an issue since. Yeah I probably killed a few beneficial bugs too. Thing is when you don't have aphids or any other prey bug the predators aren't around either so the kill off of those is minimal. Makes sense in my head anyways.