Why are ants attacking my roses

[Eatally]

Can anyone help with what is going on with my roses please?

I planted two David Austen roses in pots last year. This year one has ants climbing all over the buds (photos attached). I have no idea why ants are targeting the buds or what to do about it, and would love some help from wise MNrs!

Ants or Aphids? Spray them with diluted washing up liquid

Probably both! Don't ants eat aphids? Could be whats going on here.

If it's actually ants, they will farm aphids and eat them..ants will make nests underneath rose bushes and destroy the roots. In which case,any powder.

Not eating the aphids, they're eating the honeydew the aphids produce.

Aphids literally suck sap and filter out all the proteins, leaving just the sweet/carbohydrate-rich 'rubbish'. This passes out the rear end, and the ants drink this (like sugar water).

Do you have a picture of the ants? Are they red ants?

Thanks so much for the responses. The ants are black (they are the black blobs in the photos - sorry I can’t make it any more focused). I can’t actually see any aphids, just ants.
I’ll try spraying with diluted Fairy liquid and see if that helps.

Oh yes I can see them. There's so many too! Are you on Facebook? There's a David austin group that's very helpful, someone else might be able to advise who has experienced this before.

Ah,yes, sorry you are correct, the ants take the honeydew..every ants nest I have had under a rose has killed it!

PP are right, ants farm aphids for their secretions and will happily transport them from plant to plant. They will also defend the aphids against insect predators.

Treat the plant with a systemic insecticide to kill any aphids and the ants will go and set up operations elsewhere.

I have also been googling this as ants are all over my new cherry tree. They “farm” aphids, protecting them from predators and moving them around on the plant so that they can drink the honeydew the aphids produce.

I don’t want to put any powder down as I would like to eat any cherries that survive and so have applied ant nematodes. These are small little parasites that affect ants. I’m also going to apply some “tree paste” if I can get any to stop them climbing up and down.