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Originally Posted by damon00
Do they damage the trees?
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eit27 is right, they won't harm the tree. Their larva feed on dead organic matter, but can damage tender seedlings or the base of soft cuttings. Healthy trees or plants are safe.
They're just a pain as each adult female can lay up to 200 eggs and the broods can overlap. The eggs hatch in 5 to 7 days and the young reach breeding age in 20 to 25 days, so more or less each month you get hundreds more (because more than one female will have laid) breeding whilst their parents are still breeding so you get exponential growth in numbers.
Happily, you can interrupt that cycle with any household fly spray.
On the other hand, they could be drosophila (fruit fly), some species of which also feed on rotting vegitation. The way to tell the difference is fungus gnats look like miniature mosquitos (thinner bodies, longer legs) and drosophila look like miniature house flies (squatter bodies, shorter legs).
Either way, the same rules apply.