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What is the difference between fruit flies and fungus gnats?

Fruit flies (vinegar flies) are tiny, tan-coloured with red eyes, and hover around ripe fruit, juice and wine. Fungus gnats are smaller, black with long legs, and fly around house plants and damp soil. Fruit flies breed in fermenting food; fungus gnats breed in overwatered potting mix. The control methods are completely different.

How do I know if I have fruit flies or fungus gnats?

Look at where they are flying. If they are above the fruit bowl, kitchen bench or near the bin, they are fruit flies. If they are around your indoor plants, crawling on the soil or near the windows above pots, they are fungus gnats. Fruit flies have red eyes and a tan body; fungus gnats are black and mosquito-like with long legs.

How do I get rid of fruit flies?

Move overripe fruit to the fridge, empty the kitchen bin, and place a small fruit fly trap baited with apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap next to the fruit bowl. The trap starts catching within hours and clears an outbreak in a week. See our fruit fly traps for the right tool.

How do I get rid of fungus gnats?

Let the potting mix dry out between waterings — fungus gnat larvae need consistently damp soil. Water from the bottom (into a saucer) so the surface stays dry, and place yellow sticky traps in the pots to catch the adults. A fly trap will not help with fungus gnats because they are not attracted to the same baits.

Will a fruit fly trap catch fungus gnats?

Not effectively. Fruit flies are drawn to the fermentation smell of apple cider vinegar; fungus gnats are drawn to damp soil and are not attracted to the same baits. Yellow sticky traps placed in the potting mix are the most effective tool for fungus gnat adults.

Are fungus gnats harmful to plants?

Adult fungus gnats are mostly a nuisance, but the larvae in the soil can damage young seedlings and root cuttings by feeding on roots. Mature plants are usually not badly affected, but a heavy infestation can stunt growth. The fix is drying out the soil — the larvae cannot survive in dry potting mix.

Where do fruit flies and fungus gnats come from?

Fruit flies come in from outside through tiny gaps, or as eggs already on the skin of store-bought fruit — they are not a sign of a dirty kitchen. Fungus gnats often arrive in bags of potting mix or on newly purchased house plants. Both are common in New Zealand homes, especially in warm weather.

Fruit Flies vs Fungus Gnats

They look similar but need completely different control methods. Here is how to tell them apart — and fix each correctly.

Tiny flies in the house are one of the most common pest questions we get — and the first step is always the same: work out which fly it is. Fruit flies (vinegar flies) and fungus gnats look similar at a glance, but they live in completely different places, breed in completely different things, and need completely different control methods. Using the wrong trap is the most common reason people struggle to get rid of them.

How to tell them apart

The quickest way is to look at where they are flying. If the tiny flies are above the fruit bowl, the kitchen bench or near the bin, they are almost certainly fruit flies. If they are around your indoor plants, crawling on the potting soil or near the windows above your pots, they are fungus gnats.

In appearance: fruit flies are about 3 mm, tan to brown in colour, with distinctive red eyes. Fungus gnats are smaller — about 2 mm — black, with long, delicate legs and a mosquito-like appearance. They look more like tiny black mosquitoes than flies.

Feature	Fruit fly (vinegar fly)	Fungus gnat
Size	~3 mm, tan body	~2 mm, black, mosquito-like
Eyes	Red	Black
Where they fly	Fruit bowl, kitchen bench, bin	Around house plants, damp soil
What they breed in	Fermenting fruit, juice, drains	Overwatered potting mix
Attracted to	Apple cider vinegar, wine, overripe fruit	Damp soil, yellow sticky traps
Effective trap	Fruit fly trap with ACV bait	Yellow sticky traps in pots
Root cause fix	Move fruit to fridge, clean drains	Dry out potting mix between waterings

How to get rid of fruit flies

Fruit flies breed in fermenting material — overripe fruit, juice spills, wine residue and even dirty drains. The fix is to remove the breeding source and trap the adults:

Move overripe fruit to the fridge and clear fruit bowls of anything past its best.
Empty the kitchen bin and wipe up any juice or wine spills.
Pour boiling water down the drain daily for a week — drains are a hidden breeding site.
Place a small fruit fly trap baited with apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap next to the fruit bowl. It starts catching within hours.

How to get rid of fungus gnats

Fungus gnats breed in damp potting mix — the larvae feed on fungi and organic matter in the soil. A fruit fly trap will not help because fungus gnats are not attracted to vinegar or fruit baits. The fix is to dry out the soil:

Water less often — let the top 2–3 cm of potting mix dry out between waterings. The larvae cannot survive in dry soil.
Water from the bottom — pour into a saucer so the roots take up water from below while the surface stays dry.
Yellow sticky traps — place these in the pots to catch the flying adults and break the breeding cycle.
Check new plants — fungus gnats often arrive in bags of potting mix or on newly purchased house plants. Quarantine new plants for a week if you can.

For the full species breakdown on fungus gnats, see our fungus gnat guide. For the full fruit fly control method, see our fruit fly guide. To see fruit fly activity in your area, check the Pest Tracker.