Cloning w/o supplements?

i have a friend who says he clones w/o using any hormones or root stimulators. He said just to cut the cutling at a harsh angle, in order to expose more "raw" plant material inside the stem. the stick in very moist soil or grow sponge and cover with a bag to maintain high humidity. the problem is, i saw him try recenly, with cutlings that had just begun to flower, and they failed to produce roots after 12 days.
My questions are: has anyone else cloned w/o chemicals to induce rooting?
And I thought the problem may be that the cutlings had alredi started flowering... is it even possible to clone a flowering cutling?

yes it is possible to clone with just water and it's also possible to clone a flowering plant but it's gonna take along time to root and go back into Veg cycle again...

Yeah you can root clones with just PH'ed water.

Thanks for replying. So is it better to clone during veg, and is just cutting the stem at an angle sufficient?

Yup clone during veg is easier and good clean cut with sterilized razor at a 45 degree angle,try to keep the medium warm to promote faster root growth.Using root hormones just makes the process faster oh yeah take clones from the bottom