Today I was at a grafting workshop and they had pear rootstocks for us to purchase. I got three OHxF 97. I know I got a little carried away. I should’ve gone for one pear and one Apple rootstock. But we are more pear people than Apple so I figured I’d go for pear. Anyway, other than the space issue I also came across another problem. I was reading online about OHxF97 vs 87 and everything seems to point that 87 is more precocious than 97. When I bought 97 I knew it’s a larger size than 87. But I thought that was the only difference. I thought they both bear fruit early. Now I’m kind of regretting my decision to get 3 small rootstocks that will take 5 years to produce fruit rather than go for a nursery tree on 87 which will producers fruit in 2-3 years. That assuming my grafts are successful. I guess I’m looking for some sort of reassurance 
Something along the lines “97bears just as early as 87 and of course those grafts will take because pear grafting is so easy”
Anyway Has it been your experience that you have to wait longer on fruit on 97 than 87?
Susu, I can’t speak to the rootstock issue, but I will reassure you on the likelihood of your grafts succeeding. They will. You’ve been following the subject and you understand about scions/timing/technique and all. Your inner surgeon will be there for you!
You’re the best! 
I sure hope they take. We were told to keep them at 65 degrees for two weeks and then put them outside.
I planted three ohxf 87 last spring and let them grow over the summer. I plan to graft them I a few weeks.
If you have not grafted all of them yet you have the option of inserting an interstem at the same time that you graft the scions.
You mean graft a piece of OHxF 87 on to my 97 and then graft the variety to 87? So whether a tree is an early bearer or not is decided by what it is immediately grafted on to? Not necessarily the rootstock? I haven’t done any reading on interstem grafting. Will do that. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.
Generally, more vigorous rootstocks are less precocious and more dwarfing, more precocious.
Yes some people do this on apples. For example M111 rootstock for a great root system then a dwarfing and/or precocious interstem.
I don’t know how your particular combination of pears will work out but it may be worth a try if you have scion material to experiment with.
I posted on scionwood exchange to see if anybody has OHxF87,but no luck so far. I’m hoping to eat my own pears in 3-4 years. Doesn’t look like that will happen. I’m kind of bummed because I waited to see what would be available to buy at this workshop. So I didn’t order anything. Now what I want is not available and I didn’t realize that workshop would only have tiny rootstocks and not trees that would fruit sooner 
Susu, when I bought my one and only pear tree it was probably three years old, came from an area nursery that used an OHxF cross, but I don’t know which one. It bloomed and bore a few fruit the year I planted it, skipped the next year, and has been generous (spring frosts permitting) every year since. It was small enough to fit in our Subaru station wagon, probably cost $45.00. I grafted all over the poor thing. It’s about 12 feet tall now, and that’s as high as I’m letting it go.
My point is that if you can find the right tree from a good nursery it might serve you well and start giving you crops within a few years. That is, if you want to go that route.
Yes you are right. I was going to order from Schlabach’s nursery but I waited until after the workshop and now they are all sold out. I will order it from them next year. It will still fruit sooner than this tiny rootstock. In the mean time I will put it in the only spot I have for it, shady but not much to be done about it.
I knew I got too carried away 