Clonex vs Olivia's vs Dip 'N Grow: Which Cloning Gel Is Best?

A customer stood at our counter a while back refusing to leave with anything but Clonex, because a forum told him it was the best and the bottle of Olivia's next to it was four dollars cheaper, which in his mind meant it was worse. We asked him what he thought was inside each one. He had no idea. The answer is that all three of the bottles he was choosing between, Clonex, Olivia's, and Dip 'N Grow, are delivery systems for the exact same thing: a small dose of rooting hormone applied to a cut stem. He bought the Olivia's, reported back a week later that his clones rooted just fine, and saved himself money on every batch since.

That is the honest frame for this whole comparison. These products are not magic potions with secret formulas; they are three formats of the same idea. The real questions are not which brand is secretly superior, but whether easy-rooting cannabis even needs a gel at all (often it does not), and if you decide to use one, whether you want a grab-and-dip gel or a cheaper concentrate you mix yourself. We sell all three, we will set you up with any of them, and we are going to tell you exactly what separates them so you can stop guessing. We don't upsell. If you want the full cutting-to-roots process first, start with our step-by-step guide to cloning cannabis; this article is only about the gel you dip into.

First, what a cloning gel actually does (and whether you need one)

Before pitting three bottles against each other, it helps to know what is really in them, because once you do, most of the brand mystique evaporates. A cloning gel or solution is a carrier for auxin, the natural plant hormone that triggers roots to form at a cut stem. The specific auxin in nearly all of these products is IBA, indole-3-butyric acid, sometimes paired with a second auxin called NAA. According to Michigan State University Extension, soft cuttings are typically treated with IBA in roughly the 500 to 1,000 ppm range, and liquid formulations generally outperform powders at the same concentration. Commercial cloning products are formulated around exactly this idea. A gel adds one more practical job: its thickness coats the cut, holds the hormone in place, and helps seal the wound against air and contamination.

So do you actually need one? Here is the part the manufacturers do not lead with: cannabis is an easy-rooting plant, and plenty of growers root cuttings at high rates with no hormone at all, particularly in forgiving setups like an aeroponic cloner or plain water. A rooting hormone is not mandatory. What it does do is speed up rooting and make a batch root more evenly, which genuinely matters when you are cloning at volume, working with a stubborn or woodier cutting, or simply want the fastest, most uniform result. If you take a few cuttings of an easy plant twice a year, you can skip gel entirely and lose very little. If you run trays and want consistency, it earns its keep. That honest answer drives everything below, and yes, we sell the gel and will still tell you when you do not need it. We don't upsell.

Clonex: the popular default

Clonex is the name most growers reach for first, and it has earned its reputation. It is a thick, gel-based rooting product built around IBA, and it has been a staple on grow-shop shelves for decades. When people picture a cloning gel, they are usually picturing the bright bottle of Clonex.

What Clonex genuinely does well comes down to convenience and consistency. It is ready to use straight from the bottle with no mixing, so you simply dip the freshly cut stem and stick it. The gel is thick enough to cling to the cut and stay put rather than running off, which coats the wound, holds the hormone right where roots need to form, and helps seal the cut against air and contamination. It is also formulated with the cutting in mind, and it is stocked almost everywhere, so you will rarely struggle to find it. For a grower who wants a grab-and-go product that just works and does not want to think about ratios or shelf life of a mixed solution, Clonex is a safe, proven choice.

The honest downsides are about cost and habits rather than performance. Clonex is the most expensive of the three on a per-use basis, and because most people dip cuttings directly into the main bottle, it is easy to contaminate the whole container or waste product. The fix is simple and applies to every gel: pour a small amount into a separate cup, dip from that, and throw away the leftover, so you never reintroduce plant matter or pathogens into the bottle. Used that way, Clonex is reliable and fuss-free, you just pay a premium for the name and the convenience.

Buy Clonex if

You want the most widely available, grab-and-dip gel with a long track record, and you do not mind paying a bit more for that convenience and familiarity.

Skip Clonex if

You are price-conscious or clone in volume, since you can get the same result for less from Olivia's or, especially, from a concentrate like Dip 'N Grow.

Olivia's Cloning Gel: the value gel

Olivia's Cloning Gel is the product we most often hand a customer who is about to buy Clonex out of habit. It is also a ready-to-use, IBA-based gel, and in the day-to-day experience of most growers it performs right alongside Clonex: you dip, you stick, your clones root. The two are close enough in practice that treating one as premium and the other as budget is mostly a marketing impression, not a performance gap.

The appeal of Olivia's is straightforward. It does the same job as the default gel, usually at a lower price, with the same grab-and-dip convenience and no mixing. For a home grower taking cuttings a few times a season, or anyone who simply does not see the point of paying more for an identical outcome, it is an easy recommendation. It coats the cut like any gel, holds the hormone in place, and asks nothing of you beyond the same good practice of decanting a little to dip from rather than dunking cuttings in the main jar.

The only real downsides are about ubiquity rather than the product itself. Olivia's is not stocked in quite as many places as Clonex, so depending on where you shop it can be a little harder to find, and the brand offers fewer companion formulations than the broader Clonex line. Neither of those affects whether your clones root. If your shop carries it, it is one of the better value picks on the shelf.

The honest Clonex vs Olivia's verdict

People want a clear winner between these two, and the truthful answer is that it is close to a wash. Both are ready-to-use IBA gels that root cannabis reliably, and most growers cannot tell the difference in results. Price and availability should decide it, not a belief that one is secretly stronger. If Olivia's is cheaper at your shop, buy Olivia's. If you only find Clonex, buy Clonex and do not feel like you overpaid for anything that matters. We stock both and we will point you to whichever is the better deal that day, because we don't upsell.

Dip 'N Grow: the value concentrate

Dip 'N Grow is the odd one out in format, and that is exactly why some growers swear by it. Instead of a ready-to-use gel, it is a liquid concentrate that you dilute with water before use, and it contains two auxins rather than one: IBA plus NAA. You mix the appropriate dilution, dip your cuttings, and a single bottle of concentrate stretches across a very large number of cuttings, which is what makes it the cheapest option per clone by a wide margin.

The two-hormone formula is worth understanding rather than just trusting. IBA is the workhorse rooting auxin, valued for being stable and reliable, while NAA is a second auxin that can add rooting power. The catch, and the reason dilution matters, is that NAA can be harsher: a peer-reviewed comparison of auxins on stem cuttings found IBA favored for its stability, while NAA could trigger excessive callus or even mild toxicity at higher doses. In a product like Dip 'N Grow that combines them, the right dilution gives you the benefit of both without the downside, which is precisely why you follow the mixing instructions and do not eyeball it. Used at the correct strength, the dual-auxin concentrate is flexible and effective, and many experienced growers prefer it for exactly that adjustability on different cutting types.

The downsides are convenience and room for error. You have to mix it, which is one more step than grabbing a gel, and because it is a concentrate, it is possible to over-dilute and get a weak result or under-dilute and overdo it. It is also a liquid, so it does not cling and seal a cut the way a thick gel does. None of that is hard once you have done it a couple of times, but it is a touch more involved than dipping into a pot of gel, and it rewards a grower who is comfortable measuring.

Buy Dip 'N Grow if

You want the lowest cost per cutting, you clone in volume, you like being able to adjust strength for tougher cuttings, and you do not mind mixing a dilution.

Skip Dip 'N Grow if

You want the absolute simplest grab-and-dip experience or you only take the occasional cutting, in which case a small bottle of gel is less fuss than mixing a concentrate.

Gel vs liquid concentrate vs powder: the format question

Step back and most of the real difference between rooting products is not the brand at all, it is the format, so it is worth laying the three formats side by side. Ready-to-use gels like Clonex and Olivia's win on convenience and on sealing the cut: no mixing, the gel clings and protects, and you simply dip and stick. Liquid concentrates like Dip 'N Grow win on value and flexibility: the lowest cost per use and adjustable strength, at the cost of mixing and not clinging to the cut. The third format you will see on the shelf is powder, the classic rooting powder you dip a moistened stem into. Powder is cheap and shelf-stable and works, but as the propagation research notes, liquid formulations generally root cuttings more effectively than powders at a comparable concentration, so most serious cloners prefer a gel or concentrate over powder.

In other words, choose your format first and your brand second. If you want grab-and-dip simplicity, you are choosing a gel, and then it is just Clonex versus Olivia's on price. If you want maximum value and do not mind mixing, you are choosing a concentrate, which points you to Dip 'N Grow. If you want the cheapest possible shelf-stable option and accept slightly lower performance, that is powder. The hormone inside is doing the same job in every case. Spend your decision-making energy on choosing a format and a fair price, in other words, and almost none on which brand name happens to be printed on the bottle, because that part barely affects whether a healthy cutting roots.

How to use any rooting gel or solution correctly

Whichever product you choose, the technique is nearly identical and the mistakes are universal. Take your cutting and make a clean cut just below a node, then apply the hormone to the freshly cut base right away, before the stem dries or draws in air. With a gel, dip the cut so it is coated; with a concentrate, dip it in your correctly mixed dilution for the time the label specifies. Then stick the cutting straight into your medium and dome the tray.

The single most important habit, and the one most people get wrong, is contamination control. Never dip cuttings directly into the main bottle or jar, because you are introducing plant matter and potential pathogens into a product you will reuse for months. Pour out a small amount into a separate cup or lid, dip from that, and discard whatever is left over. Beyond that, do not overdo it: more hormone is not better, and drowning a cut in product can do more harm than good. And do not expect any gel to rescue a bad setup. A rooting hormone speeds and evens out rooting, but it cannot fix a cold, soggy, dirty, or under-humidified environment, which is where clones actually fail. UNH Extension's propagation guidance is clear that high humidity around the leaves and clean, sterile conditions are what keep a cutting alive long enough to root, and greenhouse propagation guidance notes most cuttings root within about two to three weeks when temperature and humidity are right, with or without hormone. If your clones are struggling, the gel is rarely the problem; our guide to why clones fail to root walks through the real causes, and the VPD chart for cannabis helps you keep humidity and temperature in line.

Do you actually need a rooting gel at all?

It is worth circling back to this honestly, because it is the question the product labels never ask. Cannabis roots readily compared with many woody plants, and a healthy cutting in a warm, humid, clean environment will very often root with no hormone whatsoever. Growers using aeroponic cloners or plain water in particular report high success with nothing added, because those methods keep the stem so consistently moist and oxygenated that rooting happens on its own. If you are running water culture, our DWC guide covers the wider setup.

So a rooting gel is best thought of as an optimizer, not a requirement. It earns its place when you want faster, more uniform rooting across a tray, when you are working with a more stubborn or woodier cutting, or when you are cloning in enough volume that a few extra days or a few extra failures per batch actually cost you something. For a casual grower taking a handful of cuttings from an easy plant, it is genuinely optional, and skipping it will not doom your clones. That is not a message you will hear from a company that only sells hormone, but it is the truth, and it is why we would rather sell you the right small bottle, or none at all, than talk you into the biggest one. We don't upsell.

Powders and the cheaper hormones

Beyond the big three, you will see rooting powders and a handful of budget products, and they deserve an honest mention. Rooting powders, sold under names like Hormex, Bonide, and Garden Safe, are dry IBA-based powders you dip a moistened cutting into. They are inexpensive, they keep on a shelf for a long time, and they will root cannabis. The tradeoff is that, as the propagation research notes, powders tend to root cuttings a little less effectively than liquids at a comparable strength, and they do not cling to or seal the cut the way a gel does, so most dedicated cloners treat powder as a budget fallback rather than a first choice. You will also run into other gels and concentrates beyond these three, from quick-rooting gels to various house brands. The same logic applies to every one of them: read which auxin is inside, decide whether you want the convenience of a gel or the value of a concentrate, and let price break the tie. None of them is doing anything fundamentally different from the others, and none will outperform good technique and a good environment.

Shelf life, storage, and why old hormone fails

One quietly common reason a rooting product seems to stop working is that it has simply aged out. Rooting hormones are not immortal: gels and concentrates lose potency over time, especially if they are stored warm, in light, or left open, and an old, degraded product can root slowly or unevenly even when your technique is perfect. This is worth knowing because growers often blame their cuttings or their setup when the real culprit is a forgotten three-year-old bottle of gel that has lost its punch. Store your gel or concentrate the way the label directs, usually somewhere cool and dark with the cap closed, check the expiration date before a big run, and replace it when it is past its prime. For a home grower, buying a smaller bottle you will actually use up, rather than a giant one that sits half-empty for years going stale, is often the smarter purchase, which is one more reason we do not push the biggest size on anyone. We don't upsell.

Which should you buy?

Here is the whole comparison boiled down to a decision you can make at the shelf.

Whatever you decide, the gels and rooting solutions in this comparison live in the Modern Farms catalog under Plant Care, alongside the cubes, domes, and cloners that do the rest of the job. If you want to browse the rooting products side by side, our cloning gels and rooting solutions are grouped together there, and our team is happy to point you to the smallest, best-value option for your setup rather than the most expensive one on the shelf. The full process, from cutting to transplant, lives in the cloning guide, the medium you pair your gel with is covered in rockwool vs Rapid Rooter vs coco, and where all of it fits in a grow is in the week-by-week cannabis grow guide.

Frequently asked questions

For informational and educational purposes only. This article is general horticultural guidance and is not legal advice. Cannabis cultivation laws vary by country, state and locality, and growing cannabis may be illegal where you live. Always understand and comply with the laws and regulations that apply to you before propagating or growing any cannabis plant.