A friend told me to get a negrone. They grow good in pots. I found a 25 year old tree and took a green cutting. Put it in a cup of water with a one liter soda bottle over it. I am starting to see white bumps, maybe roots? When should I add something solid like dirt? Hate to kill this one. I ended up with a dead stick back in Feburay.

Hello rx2

This is what I do with Summer cuttings.

I would take a typical sized cutting (roughly 6" to 8") and place directly into the pot with a good potting soil. I would insert the entire cutting with only one node or the bud exposed.
I would keep the soil moist. Not wet and not dry like.
I would place the pot under a shade or filtered sun for at least a couple weeks and then gradually move to brighter light.
But sometimes I just leave it alone under the shade for even a longer period of time.

I have never placed a cutting in water so I don't know what the better steps are there after. Others can/will chime in on that.

Good luck

Rx2,
Here's one of the simplest procedures... http://www.treesofjoy.com/content/rooting-softwood-fig-cuttings posted at a forum member's (Bass) website or http://figs4fun.com/Links/FigLink653a.pdf at http://figs4fun.com/.
Pre-rooting in water works, but the water has to be kept aerated and changed frequently, if allowed to stagnate it will rot the cutting.
Good Luck.

Hi rx2,
You should change the water every two or three days.
After 3 weeks, I put them in nursery compost in my greenhouse for more humidity and more stable conditions.
They have roots now and going through the first rooting stage. This stage is critical .

I was willing to wait for roots, but after the white bumps appeared, I was getting moldy water-surface more quickly.
Fearing to loose the cuttings to mold, I did plant them in a regular pot with 2/3 of their length buried. The pots are sitting on a plate with water for the compost to wick the water.
I now removed the water from the plate because I was fearing to have them too damp, and I'll have to check this evening how they are doing .Probably put some water in the plate...

So I did not add dirt to the water but rather I planted them in a pot.
When did you start the rooting process ?
Why just one cuttings ? I always take 4 at least ...

I started this about 10 days ago. The tree I got the cutting from is in front of a produce store. They said I could have a cutting but no figs. I didn't want to be greedy so I just took one. I can go back for more if needed. But don't have the room for more my other half says. I am just a newbie and have a DK and an olympian. Didn't even know if I would like a fig. The guy that gave me the DK gave me some fresh figs. Well, I think I am a figaholic now.

if you go back, look for suckers. your chances of making it grow is much better than green cuttings, or just tell them you will come back in the spring to get  the cutting, or to have their left overs when pruning is done.. then you get enough for all of your friends also...

I'd use Bass's method on Trees of Joy. I shoved a bunch of Lattarula suckers in shaded pots, ignored them except watering when everything else was watering and most are rooted. Don't overthink it!