Question
Dear Wayne,
My wife loves orchids and takes them outside for the summer. They always do well. We live in CT on the shore. Last year we had what looked like fruit flies all winter. This year when she took them inside another larger fly is present. So we have the fruit lies and another species about 3 times larger and lots of them. I cannot prove that they are breeding in the orchid media or that they came from the orchids. I was just wondering if you have heard of such a thing. We have put out fruit fly traps. Still waiting for the results. Anything we can do besides that? Sincerely, Dick Schlueter

Answer
Richard, there is good reason to believe that the "other" flies are fungus gnats.  These gnats, and the fruit flies, are attracted to potting mix that has an element of decay to it.  Neither the gnats nor the fruit flies will damage the orchid plants but are symptomatic of the need to repot in a fresh fir bark based potting mix. If the only plants you have are orchids, you should consider repotting all of them.  If you have other house plants near the orchids, they may also be the source of the gnats and flies.