New Red Robin Hedge, to prune or not to prune

.... well that's my question.

The hedge was planted last Autumn on top of grass, then mulched with cardboard and compost. They've been pretty much left to their own devices all winter except for the odd watering. It's been so dry this Spring where we are, but the lovely rain we've just had has made it possible to push support canes into the ground. They've really put on a growth spurt.

I'm in the middle of sorting out the front garden, so do they need any pruning? I'll be tying them to the canes a bit better, mulching them with bark, and providing some fish-blood-bone treatment.

Thanks for any help.

 

IMO they don’t look like they need pruning at this stage. However I think you may spend a lot of your time in the future keeping it in check as they can grow quite big, My neighbour has one they planted years ago, it’s now up to the upstairs window at the side of their house as they never prune it and every year I have to cut it back on my side a few times to keep it in check, it’s the bane of my life.

 

Oh dear, I'll need to keep in short as I don't want it spreading into the road. Thanks for the advice and the warning.

 

Depends on which variety of Red Robin you purchased, were they "Little Red Robin" which grows to 1.5m ? or the larger standard ones eg 4mtr high !

They are generally rather lax shrubs and think you will find they may too big for the very narrow border you have by the footpath /road.

What height we you looking to grow them to ?

You typically need to "stop" the head of the plant when its about 150 -300 mm below the height you want so it speads out a bit.

A bit curious why the plants are arched over those cane rather than tied in vertically ?

Also we would put on some cane top protectors or corks etc as they could be a bit of a danger to passers by / kids.

 

Thank you, good points there Ricky. They were purchased as a hedge, description being

"Red Robin Hedging Evergreen Photinia Plants Fast Growing Shrubs"

I did some research at the time and believed them to grow 1.5m. I'm looking for bushy
plants no bigger that 1m to 1.5m max.

The warm red colour during winter months is what I'm looking for.

They're arched because they haven't been staked and they're on a pretty windy corner, until I could get the canes in the ground, they were trying to grow prostrate. I do need to tie them in better.

Great idea about protectors for the canes.

 

Its hard to know now for sure which type of Red Robin they are, if they are the larger ones they might be harder to control once established.
Cannot think of another Red hedge, though a Golden Pivate does look nice and is much more controllable.

Have grown a couple of Red Robins before, though no expert on them, but for a 1mtr height and looking at yours now, the main stem is already about half that, but very little growth / side shoots below the top head.

As they are actively growing now, think we would be tempted to cut them about to about 200mm just above some side shoot so that makes them put out more side shoots to create a much better canopy at the bottom of the hedge.
Be interested to know if others think thats a good way ?

 

I agree with pruning them now @ricky101 to encourage them to branch out. My neighbour has a stunning Red Robin in his garden. He has raised the crown and it looks like a small tree. Most hedging plants can potentially become large shrubs or trees so regular pruning to encourage a low dense hedge is important. I regularly remove some of the growing tips from my Griselinia hedge next to my sitting area, it is now a dense green screen. I did the same with a Portuguese laurel in a previous garden which remained well contained.

 

Yes, I was thinking maybe taking out the growing tips to encourage lower growth, but not necessarily pruning them. They were about a foot tall when they were planted in the Autumn, so they're growing quite fast. They've had loads of water over the Autumn and winter, I thought it would never stop raining here. They've had all their needs catered, although they're in a pretty windswept spot, and me failing to support them in time.

 

Thank you, that's encouraging.

 

If it were mine, I would define the boundary with two single wire strands upon posts, to give support to which you can tie in the hedge plants. This will also slow down those incessant leaflet droppers who travel the shortest distance between drops.
Certainly shape the hedge by trimmng/training and continue to feed, mulch etc. Water if the drought persists.
Regarding height, this is within your control; some properties have restrictive covenants and planning constraints may apply re highway visibility, worth checking.

 

Know what you mean about the leaflet droppers, I've lost one of the plants between our house and next door, it's obviously been stamped on as the stem has broken off. I'll give some thought about the two lines of wire, it does seem a good idea.

I don't think there's a problem with hedges as others have planted hedges. The road is a quiet cul-de-sac, we don't have a pavement on our side of the road.