Does cold kill whiteflies and their eggs?

Question

I've discovered some nasty whiteflies on my chili peppers. I'm keeping my plants indoors. my question is if I expose them to cold outdoor temperatures (below 5 or 10 degrees Celsius) does it kill those whiteflies or not? I haven't found any eggs yet but if there are any, does cold temperatures have an effect on them as well? Is this a good solution overall?

Answer 1

"Whitefly" is actually many different species of insect which cannot be distinguished visually but do not interbreed with each other. It is quite likely that different species have different temperature tolerances.

This study showed about 90% survival of adult whitefly at 4C, and about 60% survival at 0C. The study did not include eggs or pupae because of "issues of technical feasibility."

This study found it took 3 hours at -6C to kill 90% of adults, 57 hours at -6C to kill 90% of nymphs, and "even longer" to kill eggs.

So I guess the answer to your question is "you will probably kill the peppers before you kill the whitefly".