Ants eat mostly smaller insects they capture, dead insects, nectar or honey dew. Unless its some kind of new ant with new ant powers your plants will be fine.
Some ants, not all ants, "farm" aphids. I don't recall "why" at the moment, but they do. Aphids are plant pests. They aren't going to do plants any good, I would eliminate them, to be safe.
c/p
Why are they often found together as seen in this picture?
Answer: Some species of ants are "aphid farmers" -- they tend aphids in a way similar to human farmers tending livestock. The ants protect the aphids from predators by patrolling the area where the aphids are feeding; if they encounter other insects, they sting or bite them until they leave or fall off the branch. As the aphids feed, they suck the plant juices out of the plant leaves and stems. Eventually, the plant wilts and the juice no longer flows. The ants will then pick up the aphids and carry them to a new juicy stem where they can continue to feed and produce the honeydew that the ants eat. At night, the ants will often carry the aphids to a safe place for the night and bring them back to a plant to feed in the morning!
Ah just to be safe we're going to burn the ants nest and use Raid on the surrounding area....just to be safe...Clones of white Russian are very....very hard to come by around here.
my friend and i just started growing some plants (2" seedlings now) and we just moved them out door i used blood meal to increase growth but ants have found there way into the pots and are now making a nest around the plant i didn't see the harm untill today when i notices that something... maybe the ants? n/e ways they ate all the leaves of the some of the plants leaving nothing but stalks. is it to late for those plants? my friend in a furiouse fit of stoned stupidity sprayed raid all over the plants? i told him it was bad for the bud he said it would work its way out? is it too late for those plants? what do i do from here?