Carpenter Ants

I'm growing morning glories and Cardinal Climbers on my fences this year.
I've noticed carpenter ants have taken up residence in the vines. I'm assuming they are attracted to the sweetness of the plant.

Any info on this?
Any chance these pests will relocate to my buildings once I pull the vines? We had the carpenter ants take up residence in our garage a couple of years ago and don't want them back :(
I hope I'm not inviting trouble here .............

As far as I know, there shouldn't be any trouble. Carpenter ants usually take up residence in a structure because there is a moisture problem, such as a leak, which is creating damp wood. The carpenter ants usually need a pretty good moisture content to set up permanent residence.

Every once in a while, carpenter ants will use a void space for later stage larvae and pupae - and in that case they don't necessarily need moisture, but they also don't really do any damage (they just borrow space temporarily). Generally if something like this happens, it is because a tree, vegetation, etc that the ants are living in is touching the home. "Void use" is generally temporary and causes no lasting problems.

General rule of thumb - no moisture problems in the house, means no carpenter ant problems.

If the fences aren't near or touching your house, there likely won't be any problems at all. The ants are probably - just as you guessed - attracted to something "sweet" in your plants. They might even bring their own aphid "cows" to help them get something sweet, but they should also keep away other damaging bugs like grasshoppers, chomping beetles, etc. My guess is that there is a rotting log or something nearby - it might even be underground.

I know this may seem a paranoid reaction, but ants are not something I want around. Period. I kill any kind of ant I find no matter where it may be. And any ant that eats wood is definately not welcome around any building made of wood.

leaflady - ants don't actually eat wood. Termites are the ones that eat wood.

Carpenter ants will build their nest in wood, but only in wood that is moist.

Incidentally, ants are probably the best predators of termites of all the critters in a yard. Ants are also good predators of other insects such as pest caterpillars, beetles, stink bugs, etc. And in our area, ants are also predators of other ants - including fire ants. In our part of the country, it is generally a good idea to have a "local" ant population, because when the flying fire ant queens come down and land in your yard, it is a good idea to have some ants around to grab and kill them so they don't start a colony.

But that's just my opinion. I happen to like ants myself, and encourage them to live in my gardens as predators.