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Rooting powder vs gel: compost dip or clinging coat

Updated: October 2026

You are looking at a Doff or Westland tub on one tile and a Clonex bottle on the next, and both say they will help a cutting. Rooting powder vs gel is not a brand fight. It is cling and chemistry. Powder is a cheap dry dip that belongs in compost. Gel is a coat that stays on the cut, and on the UK amateur shelf it is usually the form that still carries hormone language. This page sits beside the [rooting powder comparison](/hub/fertiliser-soil-and-bark-mulch/rooting-powder). Prices are an October 2026 amazon.co.uk snapshot in GBP. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We did not run a lab test.

You are looking at a Doff or Westland tub on one tile and a Clonex bottle on the next, and both say they will help a cutting. Rooting powder vs gel is not a brand fight. It is cling and chemistry.

Our top picks

Westland Westland organic rooting powder 100 g

Best overall

Westland Westland organic rooting powder 100 g
9.2/10about £6.32
View offer
Doff Doff natural rooting powder 75 g

Best value

Doff Doff natural rooting powder 75 g
8.8/10about £5.16
View offer
Clonex Clonex rooting gel 50 ml

Alternative

Clonex Clonex rooting gel 50 ml
8.8/10about £8.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What powder does
  2. 2.What gel does
  3. 3.When to buy powder
  4. 4.When to buy gel

What powder does

Powder in this set is a fine dust you tap onto a wet node. Doff 75 g (B000TAN7JC, £5.16, 4.4 from 17,426 reviews) is a seaweed growth supplement. Westland 100 g (B0777S3V9B, £6.32, 4.6 from 971) says it is free from synthetic growth hormones and fungicides. Wet the stem, dip 10–25 mm, tap, and plant into a hole. In compost that film is enough for easy wood. In a jar of water it washes off. One leftover box-contains sentence on the Doff page says hormone. The ingredients line says natural seaweed. Powder does not seal a wound the way a viscous gel does. A nursery note from Greens Horticulture is that they stock gel because powder does not stay on. That is a preference, not a ban on Doff. For a pelargonium in grit compost the missing seal rarely matters. For a succulent leaf, or a stem that will sit in water, it does.

What gel does

Gel is a viscous carrier. Clonex 50 ml (B00LI6ZSMU, £8.99, 4.4 from 2,692 reviews) is the named bottle in this set. Reviewers pour a little onto a saucer and say the coat stays on succulent leaves, softwood, semi-hardwood and shrubs. The listing header in our capture has no active-substance line, so the bottle in your hand is the source. The coat does not dust off in a plug, and it does not vanish in water. Sticky lids are the usual complaint. Dip the stored bottle and you contaminate the rest. Directions that match the reviews are 10–20 mm, poured into a dish. Vitax organic rooting gel 3 × 150 ml (B08BCM7L31, £14.73) has 3.0 from four reviews. The one United Kingdom text said the gel would not stick to rose cuttings and that none of ten came through. That is not a Clonex substitute.
Westland Westland organic rooting powder 100 g

Testsieger

Westland Westland organic rooting powder 100 g
9.2/10about £6.32
View offer

When to buy powder

Buy powder when the cutting goes into compost or a plug the same day, the wood is easy or only moderately awkward, and you want a £5–£7 tub for a season. Doff 75 g is the everyday buy. Westland 100 g is the organic-labelled buy. The Doff three-pack is the same powder when you would otherwise buy three singles. If your method is already hole, bag, windowsill, extra cling is optional. Easy houseplants often root with no dip. Do not stack powder and gel on the same stem. You are using a dry film or a clinging coat, not both. Once you have the powder, how to use rooting powder is the compost sequence.

When to buy gel

Buy gel when the coat has to stay put: plugs, a short water pre-dip, succulent leaves, or wood that is awkward to root. Clonex is the bottle this comparison can talk about. Skip it for a tray of easy pelargoniums if £9 bothers you. For winter hardwood, the RHS example is a hormone compound such as Clonex, and the wait is until next autumn. Gel is not a larger, stronger Doff. It is a different form and, on the amateur shelf, usually a different chemistry. The Vitax three-pack is not the cheap Clonex: four reviews and one failed rose tray. If the stem goes into compost this afternoon and the plant is easy, buy the powder. If it needs a coat that clings, buy Clonex and decant it. Pack size and the MAPP line sit on the rooting powder buying guide.

Common questions

Does powder stay on in compost?
A thin coat stays long enough if you make a hole first and drop the stem in. Pushing the cutting into the mix scrapes the powder off. That is a handling error, not a reason to switch brand.
Does powder stay on in water?
No. Water washes it off. Use gel, or use no dip and change the water. Powder is a compost product.
Is Clonex the same chemistry as Doff?
Not on the listings in this set. Current Doff 75 g is a seaweed powder. Clonex is a gel that reviews and trade copy treat as a hormone product. Do not treat the leftover hormone sentence on the Doff page as an IBA label.
Which is cheaper per cutting?
Powder. A 75 g tub at about £5 covers a season of home cuttings. Clonex 50 ml at £8.99 is a smaller volume of a different product. Compare them by job, not by millilitre.
Sticky lid and contamination — whose problem?
Both forms, if you dip the store. Gel shows it faster because the lid sticks. Pour a little into a dish, dip, discard the dish leftover. Westland's lid-as-dibber trick is for the hole, not for storing wet stems in the tub.
Who should still buy powder?
Anyone whose cuttings go into compost the same day and who does not need a clinging hormone coat. That is most windowsill and allotment trays in this set.
Is Vitax organic gel a Clonex substitute?
Not on this evidence. Four reviews and one UK text that the gel did not stick to roses is not a substitute. If you want the named gel, buy Clonex.
Do I need both?
No. Pick the form that matches the method. Easy compost dip: powder. Cling, plugs, water, difficult wood: gel. Two open containers on the same bench usually means one of them will be contaminated by autumn.

Related pages

Best rooting powder

Rooting powder

Rooting powder buying guide: what the tub actually is

Rooting powder for hardwood cuttings: trench and wait

How to use rooting powder on compost, not in water

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest, used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are from the eight amazon.co.uk listings captured on 21 October 2026. A seaweed or organic line is the listing's wording, not a MAPP. A hormone line on a box is not a current authorisation unless the HSE record says so. This is not a laboratory test and not a strike-rate trial.

  1. HSE, using pesticides in your garden, home or allotment (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  2. HSE, biostimulants and plant protection products (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  3. HSE garden database, Doff Hormone Rooting Powder MAPP 11986 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  4. HSE register, Chryzopon Rose 0.1 % MAPP 17566 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  5. GOV.UK, register as a seller of amateur plant protection products (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  6. BBC Gardeners' World, how to use hormone rooting powder (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  7. RHS, softwood cuttings (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  8. RHS, hardwood cuttings (retrieved 21 October 2026)