*2.1. Plants and Growth Conditions*

The study was carried out at the 'Zvi' R&D Experimental Station in the Jordan Valley (31◦59049.000 N, 35◦27009.300 E) from August 2019 to May 2020. Crop management followed the routine practices of the region. Prior to planting, soil sanitation was carried out by solar fumigation for 4 weeks, with streaming of metam sodium (40 mL m−<sup>2</sup> ) into the soil via drip irrigation during the last week. Red bell pepper seedlings (*Capsicum annuum* L. cv. Cannon, Zeraim Gedera/Syngenta, Revadim, Israel) were planted on 20 August 2019, in a high tunnel (10 m wide × 4 m high × 45 m long) in the local soil, a well-drained (EC < 2.0 dS m−<sup>1</sup> ) clay (30%)–limestone (50%) marl soil. Planting was in double-row beds of width 0.8 m, and center-to-center distance between beds of 1.75 m, with an overall plant density of 2.9 m−<sup>2</sup> . Plant training applied the 'Spanish' trellis system, with lateral horizontal wires supporting the canopy vertically, and without pruning.

Drip irrigation (emitter flow rate 1.6 L h−<sup>1</sup> ) was provided every 20 cm along each plant row, with a total of ~8000 m<sup>3</sup> ha−<sup>1</sup> per growth season (from planting in Aug. until May), similarly to commercial plots. Crop irrigation varied according to evapotranspiration calculated (Penman-Monteith FAO56, [28]) from the local meteorological data: ~40 m<sup>3</sup> ha−<sup>1</sup> d −1 from planting to mid-Dec., ~10 m<sup>3</sup> ha−<sup>1</sup> d −1 from mid-Dec. to the end of Feb., and 60–70 m<sup>3</sup> ha−<sup>1</sup> d −1 in March to May. Fertigation with N-P-K (6:3:9, ICL, Tel-Aviv, Israel) was provided at a concentration that varied between 1 to 1.5 L m−<sup>3</sup> until Feb., and 0.5 L m−<sup>3</sup> afterward. Fe (5 kg ha−<sup>1</sup> of Sequestrene Fe 6%, Syngenta) and Mn (15 L ha−<sup>1</sup> of Koratin-Mn 18 g L−<sup>1</sup> , ICL Israel) were provided 3 times, at the beginning of November, mid-December, and the beginning of March.

At the time of planting, the tunnel was covered by a 50-mesh insect-proof screen with a black shade net (40%) on top of it. On 19 September 2019, the shade net was removed, and on 17 November 2019, the mesh screen was replaced by a polyethylene sheet (Ginegar Plastic Products Ltd., Kibbutz Ginegar, Israel). To prevent fruit heat damage, on 16 March 2020, the plastic sheet was removed and the 50-mesh screen together with the black shade net (40%) were placed on top of the tunnel until the end of the experiment. The fruit yield was followed in the spring, with harvesting according to the commercial standard of picking at >60% red color. Both 'class 1' (export-quality fruit) and 'class 2' (for local market) were included in the spring yield.
