Bernabel and Bonáyar prove their strength in a challenging season
Their open plant structure is proving essential in a difficult agronomic year, as Harmoniz introduces a new, later variety, Bocos, offering the same performance, fruit quality, and uniformity as its predecessors.
Bernabel (red) and Bonáyar (yellow) are Harmoniz’s benchmark Bell pepper varieties for the late cycle. Both deliver strong overall returns for growers, thanks to their high yield of uniform, high-quality fruit throughout the entire production cycle. They also feature resistances to L4, powdery mildew, and spotted.
“They set fruit consistently across all levels of the plant,” says Mauricio Fernández, Managing Director of Harmoniz Ibérica, highlighting in particular their fruit quality towards the end of the cycle. “At the top of the plant, virtually all peppers are first class, maintaining their shape, color, and size,” he explains — one of their key distinguishing features.
In what has been a particularly challenging season, both Bernabel and Bonáyar are performing strongly. Their open, well-ventilated plant structure, combined with smaller leaves, has proven highly effective for the detection and control of Thrips parvispinus, while also helping to reduce disease and fungal pressure associated with excess humidity.
With these two varieties, the seed company not only offers growers a profitable crop option but also supports marketing opportunities. The fruit quality of Bernabel allows for harvesting in green, meaning that, together with Bonáyar, “cooperatives can create tricolor packs with consistent size and uniformity across all fruits.”
Harmoniz continues to expand its Bell pepper portfolio with new varieties that retain the “essence” of Bernabel and Bonáyar, while adapting to both earlier and later growing cycles. The first of these is about to be introduced: Bocos.
Bocos: a new, even later Bell variety
Bocos is Harmoniz’s new red Bell pepper designed for a later cycle than Bernabel, suitable for plantings from mid-August through to early September. With this new variety, the company maintains its established approach, offering consistent fruit quality and uniform sizing throughout the cycle.
It also responds to a growing trend in the sector: delayed transplanting due to the agronomic challenges associated with early production cycles.
“There is a clear shift towards plantings beyond mid-August,” says Fernández, attributing this trend to increased pest pressure under high temperatures, as well as milder winter conditions.
Following Bernabel, Bonáyar, and now Bocos—currently still under development—Harmoniz is continuing to trial new varieties aimed at offering one of the most complete Bell pepper portfolios on the market. “Our goal is to provide growers with solutions tailored almost ‘on demand’ to specific transplanting windows,” Fernández concludes.
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