Growing a shortish red robin hedge - I have no clue!

Hi all, I am 27 and in my first house and very much learning alot about looking after my first garden. I had a few disasters in my first year but am now making strides :D.

In September I got about 50 red robin planted as these looked lovely where I work, and although they weren't the best specimens they have all taken well this winter. My goal is to create a bushy, medium ish sized hedge so want to know whether to do any pruning at this stage?



The above photo shows what many of the plants look like - they have one side that's particularly 'long and gangley'. I'm worried this will inhibit a nice close medium bushy hedge at a later stage. Should I shorten these significantly with a pruning?

And in general i'm not sure what to do over the course of this year?



As you can see in the last photo - some look very bushy already and may need a different approach?

Thankyou!

 

Hi Adam

Welcome to the forum

I would leave alone and let them establish a little as they only look like very small young bushes , what I tend to do is choose a height for the 1st year say 15 inches/ 38.1 cm high and mark it on the fence or a bamboo cane and any plant that gets to that height this year nip the top growth out and it will give the others a chance to catch up you will then have a even height to all your hedge following year add another height and do the same the pinching out once the height has been met it will encourage new shoots from the base etct , you can also apply the same method with the width .

Hope i have explained , if not please ask

Spruce