“Our nursery introduced the Q-Eline rootstock in the Belgian province of Zuid-Limburg. In 2005 the first trial trees were planted on a large scale in Belgium. The rootstock was soon found to be a lot more frost-tolerant than Adams and C quinces. Q-Eline also produces far more attractive and smoother pears – a great advantage in the case of the fairly russeted Conference in particular, because traders want smoother, greener Conference pears.
There are no incompatibility problems with Q-Eline. Quite the contrary, the rootstock is very compatible with other varieties. It is moreover more productive than Adams and C quinces. Growers are very satisfied with the rootstock; the demand now exceeds the supply. I think Q-Eline is set to become the standard pear rootstock.”
