That might be typical, but it’s been about 20 years since I tried cloning that way. I remember a thread on the old OG that suggested using one of those AOL CD that they sent out all the time to place on top of the glass and suspending the clone in the water. I’m not sure if I used tap water or distilled water, but I do know it took a long time.
So I did a little cloning experiment at the start of this month. I cut six clones from the same plant. They were all equally sized, and the plant was super healthy when I took the clones. I placed 5 of them in my cloning bucket, which I describe here:
…and I treated one clone with Clonex and placed it in a peat pellet, which was hydrated with distilled water. I then placed the peat pellet clone under the same dome that sits on my cloning bucket. 7 days later, I had strong roots sticking out all around the peat pellet, and most of the hydro clones were showing roots, too. However, the hydro clones were not ready to be weened, but I was able to plant the peat pellet clone into soil and take it out from the dome
Today, 18 days later, you can see all 6 clones. The one started in the peat pellet is slightly bigger than the others, but all are looking healthy and strong.
Edit: oops - forgot the pics:
Moral of the story, you can clone without much effort or tools. However, if you want healthy clones that are more likely to survive and thrive sooner, therefore ready to veg and flower sooner, it might be wise to spend a few bucks to ensure you’re giving them the best possible chance. From my experiment, the peat pellet cost pennies and the amount of Clonex was probably less than a penny - but the results are priceless to me.
FWIW - even if you stick with your water and drinking glass “technique”, you many want to take multiple cuttings to clone - just in case one or more of them fail.