Happy New Year
I had seen figlets appearing on cuttings after shoots but this time I started the cutting in Perlite-Vermiculite and can't see any roots in transparent pot and no shoots on cutting but 2 figlets appeared above the leaf marks. Normally I would have cut it off to preserve energy for root development but I am afraid of mold (as always) on the new cut in the humid environment from past experience. Should I take that risk and cut the figlets immediately or leave these for a few days to see what happens. Any suggestion?

>>> Normally I would have cut it off to preserve energy for root development but..

>>> Should I take that risk and cut the figlets immediately...

Yes, please do. As you said, the energy reserves in the twig will eventually thank
you for that. Unrooted twig figlets, as our good Dr. Al (tapla) always says,
are a big useless energy-sink (a waste in this case).

Thing of a starving good loving mother with a baby child and where the any available food will go.

Re  mold: make sure that (at minimum) there is some air-venting.
And yes, mold is random fig twig killer, I speaking  for myself,  have not figured it all out yet.

Thanks Gorgi
I cut the two tiny figlets with sterilized razor blade. I hope it helps the cutting use energy more purposefully. There are tiny green eyes by the side of each figlet location and this most probably are the real shoot for future (I hope after the roots). These were main crop figlets above the leaf mark.
Of course many would not notice or care for such details when they do it on a different scale rather than in ones and twos and with potential for mold. Will see how it goes. 

Ottawan,
I've had a similar experience except I have lots of roots, no leaves but several figlets. I pinched mine off. I started mine in clear cups of perlite and MG mix covered with a baggie until I saw roots. Once it had roots I took the baggie off and just placed it on a table in the house. I haven't had any mold issues. It is greening up to have leaves soon.

I took these cutting from an unknow tree as an experiment. I started this unknow in Jan. '07. At 7 months it produced 12 nice figs. Container grown and garaged for winter. This past summer, '08, it grew to about 3 1/2 feet and started putting out a lot of fruit none of which matured and all dropped off. This continued until frost. Otherwise it appeared to be quite healthy.
I decided to start some cuttings just to see what would happen. Now I get figs on bare sticks! Anyone have any ideas?

I guess in your case it started growing figlets inside at higher temperature to continue the process that was interrupted outside by the frost and low temperatures using the nutrient reserves.

Ottawan,
Not really, It started putting out figs starting in July and never stopped until it went dormant. None matured, all dropped. 

Peg919
I misunderstood when you mentioned "Now I get figs on bare sticks!". I thought you meant cutting.

Ottawan,
Good timing on this thread for me. I noticed a few figlets forming on some of my cuttings that haven't put out roots yet. My gut told me to cut them off but I was waiting for a few days (I don't know why). Now I feel better that you guys have removed them also. I will do that next time I check on my cuttings. Happy New Year.

See attached pic of an Osbourne Prolific cutting with 3 figlets - they were removed after the photo.

You want your cutting to concentrate on growing roots, and then leaves. Remove the figlets. However, on the bright side, it is probably a good indication that this particular variety will have a breba crop, which is good info for those for whom that crop is important.

Jon
I had read that breba appears under the leaf. In this case the figlets were above the leaf mark. There is a small green eye by the side of cut figlet location and I hope it is a leaf bud and not another figlet.
Since I had noticed these figlets at the size 1/4 of the pea size, it was hard to see if these were leaf buds or figlets but the spherical shape indicated to be figlets. However after cutting it was confirmed to be figlet.
I have a couple more like it appearing but too small to see if buds or tiny figlets. There is no litmus test so I will wait a few days (I guess).

When i first noticed these as green little dots i thought they were tiny figs, i kept looking day to day with eyepiece and saw a small change but mine turned out to be new shoots most of them above were the leaf mark was. This native de argentile fig was brought out of dormancy when i noticed the soil was froze solid in its small styrafoam cup and did not want to chance this small plant, it was dormant when recieved with no leaves and now it seems like it will be ok. Glad i did not cut them little green dots as i could have swore they were figs.....Whew!
Martin

According to my observations, the buds swell relatively faster that the figlet embryo when they appear on cuttings inside. Also, the figlets most often appear spherical and a dot/dimple may appear in the middle whereas in most cases the bud tends to create a conical tip and some visible line (where the bud opens later). This may vary to some extent but it helped me decide that in my case the cutting had figlets. Also, when I got the cuttings, I had to remove many figlets before storing in fridge and none was left on the cutting but probably some invisible embryo were left that appeared during the rooting process. In my case I had to remove it because the tiny figlets started within few days of starting the rooting process and there were no roots yet when the figlets appeared.

Good catch. I'm glad you waited to be sure before you cut them off. They are distinctly different then the little round fig buds I had on mine. Mine had a definite little eye on them. 

I noticed one observation over the last few days to help determine early if the emerging green thing is a shoot bud or a fig embryo. If it is a fig embryo, then the top gradually gets bigger than the base, becomes rounder and the eye location shows as a pin-hole (I used magnifying glass); however, if it is a shoot bud then the base starts getting wider and the bud gradually takes conical shape with a tip. 

I had a number of such cuttings with a lot of pea size or smaller visible figs that I had cut but other started appearing during the rooting process. I have good success in identifying fig embryos but no success in rooting such cuttings yet after 4 weeks.