While they are outside, the Garden Patrol of beneficial organisms usually take care of pests on the container plants. In fact, I often send plants that have become infested during the winter outside as soon as weather permits in spring so they can be "saved" -- from scale insects, spider mites, and aphids in particular.
I'm determined to try to keep the soil food web alive in the microcosm of these containers, so I don't "sterilize" them with chemicals, etc. when I bring them inside in fall -- just physically knocking out and removing from the outside and bottom of the containers and repotting and up potting as necessary before the fall migration. So, during these cold months, all kinds of pests can make their appearance -- emerging from their hiding places in the container soil and foliage of the plants. I'm used to that and deal with them as needed. Occasionally predator/beneficial insects are found among the plants too -- I saw robber flies and wasps earlier on -- but they are generally not numerous and are solitary hunters. Spiders, too, are occasionally seen hunting or settling down in their web, and I sometimes catch and put them among my plants.
Close inspection and appropriate physical removal to keep down the tomato leafminer moth caterpillars have been necessary and scale insects also make their appearance. Some of the inevitable regular pests are aphids and fungus gnats.
This fall had some unusually warm temperature days after frost and few freezing days, which led to ants making their way inside, and bringing their aphids to pasture on my plants (I'm wondering if they bring scale insects as well). Before I was able to get them sufficiently controlled, the aphid population had exploded, overshadowing the fungus gnat problem I was trying to get under control.
Then last week, I noticed some little black winged flyers that we're not acting like fungus gnats... then a few days ago I was trying to assess the extent of the aphid problem -- there were a lot more than I thought on plants that were hidden behind others. So I reached into the foliage and pulled off a dying aphid infested leaf -- and discovered an empty aphid mummy -- tan-colored mummified aphid with a hole where Aphid Mummy Maker wasp had emerged. Wondering if this is a leftover from being outside even though the plant was brought in over a month ago, I plucked another leaf and found ANOTHER aphid mummy... And another....
...it seems not all the tiny black flying insects are fungus gnats.
). But aphid mummies are less than 1/8" long, so seem pretty tolerable indoors and great control of the aphids. I was excited when I discovered (with your help! 
Freeze and thaw cycles seem to trigger their scouts to come looking for pasture grounds. If I don't spot them right away, and if conditions are favorable, the pastured aphids multiply on hidden leaves until they are everywhere. 
). 
(I know someone whose dog licks up ants off the floor 
)