Pruning cherry laurel

[PinkElephants356]

Hello I wonder if someone could advise.

I planted these laurels late March last year to create a hedge, they’ve grown pretty well so far height wise and they have grown extra branches as well to create some density.

My question is in order to create a dense hedge do I need to prune them now to encourage more ‘bushy’ growth? Or do I leave them to it?

It looks like the flowers are started to bud as well so I don’t know if I am too late for this spring?

Thanks all,

I'd cut back any long stems by half to encourage denser growth. I wouldn't worry about the flowers unless you particularly want or like them.

Whatever you like - they are thugs that’ll survive anything. They’re really fast growing… hope you enjoy hedge trimming!

Thanks both, I’ve cut a little off some of the long stems but I’ve noticed there’s some good growth starting from the bottom so I thought I might leave it to allow that to grow and then il cut the tops off a bit.

That's not how plant hormones work. When the tops are growing strongly, their auxins (growth hormones) suppress the growth lower down. If you want bushy plants, you need to reduce the tall stems by quite a lot.

Thank you I might trim them a bit more then!

thanks

Don’t burn the cuttings, they release cyanide