NEW GARDEN TWP, PA — Phorid flies are swarming homes by the hundreds in a New Garden Township neighborhood, CBS Philadelphia reported, expanding a persistent problem for Chester County’s mushroom industry into a quality-of-life issue that has prompted residents to organize and document the infestation.
Residents of Heatherly Lane described tiny black insects invading kitchens and living areas and making it difficult to open windows. The flies, also known as scuttle flies, breed in compost used by mushroom farms.
“You can’t have a window open,” longtime homeowner Judy Stoltz told CBS Philadelphia. “They’re really a nuisance, but a real inconvenience, too.”…