I'm a newbie, and I read a comment from a f4f member saying that a particular nursery sells "tissue culture trees, and those are generally far less productive (for many years) than trees grown from cuttings of fruiting wood. The difference is dramatic. Some tc's still haven't started producing fruit for f4f members after 7+ years, and even the ones that do fruit tend to do so comparatively sparsely. There are of course occasional exceptions, but the general pattern is clear."

So now I am wondering if I have wasted valuable time (because the tiny TC trees were very inexpensive) growing these. Is this accurate that I may never have fruit from these trees?

Yes it is very likely you won't get fruit. The jury is still out but most are usually saying it's a waste. A nice cutting will always guarantee fruit. But hey you may get fruit one day.

I received 2 TC LSU Purple for birthday a few years back, they never developed into anything, stayed small, never a sign of figs, may they rest in peace, wherever they are, the not so great fig resting place probably.  They are the only figs I have ever pulled and tossed, figicide.

I bought a desert king and magnolia tc, my first trees. It is very hot desert climate here. Year one-in pots with little growth. Year two in ground with lots of fertilizer. Year three-small main crop growing on both. Desert king is six feet tall and Magnolia four feet tall. No FMV.

...but any fig lover would be willing to give up fruit to not have the ravaging fig mosaic virus.

/ sacr off

I would probably opt for growing from cuttings since it does seem that TC is slower to bear fruit. That being said, my TC Violette de Bordeaux and Olympian trees are in their second year and setting a modest main crop. My TC Ischia may even be setting some fruit, though I won't know for sure on that one until the buds grow out a bit. Based on my limited experience, it seems that following following certain growing practices can speed up the fruiting process: pruning out the prolific suckers, training as a single (or maybe double) stem tree, fertliizing to establish tree height and trunk girth as soon as possible, and pinching when the tree is of fruiting size.

It depends.  Sometimes when propagated through TC a tree will return to a juvenile state and not bear fruit, but that is not always the case.  Many people have had some TC trees bear fruit within a year of purchase.  Even if it is in a juvenile state, it should not take more than a couple of years to bear fruit if you do it properly.  You should prune to a single stem and leave that grow as tall as possible.  This is according to a professional fig breeder with several decades of experience.  He sometimes gets fruits from his breeding projects by August of the first year and that is from seed.  The downside, is that it will never bear fruit below the point where it first produces fruit but you can always airlayer the tree and start from there. 

I have had mixed experience in this area. Purchased the usual 4" TC plants about 30 months ago. 2 VDB and 4 LSU Purple. The LSU Purple  plants turned into the bushes from hell. They are tending to horizontal growth, but lots of it. They are like a fig "thicket". However, they have a few figs on them now (<15). The VDB are just the opposite. I couldn't ask for a better, more productive plant. I just counted 140 figs on the 7' tall one on my upper deck, and only 30 months old. (Plants are all being grown in 25 Gal SIPS with a mixture of LeafPro and Mushroom Compost, with lime and Osmocote added.)