Do you think an air layered  or rooted cutting makes the best progress as a fig tree or is there no difference? Also, are most fig trees sold at nurserys from air layered or from rooted cuttings?

I don't know much about nurseries, but I'm very impressed with air layering. I air layered a Black Mission branch and ended up with a four foot tall tree for some friends. This year's air layers are looking very promising. Given the choice, I would pick air layering every time.

Air layer would be much better than rooting a cutting.
You get 100% success if done right.

I think nurseries do root cuttings mostly, but not 100% sure.

Have never done an air layer that failed.

Patience Patience Patience, Get a big fat rootball, cut off and pot.
Instant tree.

The beauty of air-layering is that you have energy and resources of a mature plant and active photosynthesis to help promote root growth. The down side is it is usually close to impossible to make an air layer unless the tree close by (unless someone else will do it for you). It is fairly easy to get cuttings shipped. It is harder to get someone to ship you a tree so you can air-layer it, even if you promise to return the tree.

The air-layer is become a bigger plant faster.

Can i ask is there any difference other then the headstart of an air layer in the quality or genetics of a tree? I was mentioning sarting figs from cuttings to someone and they were saying that a tree started that way would not be as good of a tree as a airlayer or one that was split off the main trunk. The roots would not be as good, it won't be as hardy, ect. 

I have no empirical evidence to back this up, but I'm not aware of any reason why, in the long run, either option would be better than the other. The air layer simply has a big head start.

Tusc, not that I have ever heard of. A whole ton of things, other than figs, get air layered, but 100,000s of figs get started from cuttings. If there were any real problems, it would be well know, I would think.

What is the best medium to put in the bag/bottle/etc. for the air layer?

Thanks,

noss

No idea. That's one of the other advantages of air layering, at least in my limited experience--almost any kind of soil mix would probably work. I'm using straight compost in soda bottles, with lots of ventilation holes, shade to keep the sun out, and a drip emitter to keep it quite moist.

I used straight compost in liter water bottles. The difference in air-layering is that you have an actively growing plants, so mold and rotting, etc are greatly minimized, and photosynthesis drives root growth, not stored energy in the cutting.