New hedge pruning

Hello. New to this forum but have been gardening very many years, however, have not yet planted a Hawthorn hedge - which I have just done with 60-80 cm bare roots. Every supplier appears to have different advice regarding further care and this one recommends I reduce these bare roots by half. I understand why of course but other suppliers don't suggest anything so drastic. I planted a dog rose two years ago and that is doing well presently having reduced the top level with also some side growth so far. Ultimately would like the hawthorn to be quite dense. Grateful for thoughts. Many thanks.

 

Wild hawthornes often send shoots from the base as in forests they eventually collapse onto their side: sometimes this roots and sometimes it doesn't, but either way it makes new shoots. So they can probably be coppiced like hazel, though not as reliably.

I wouldnt worry about pruning them too far!
Just water them in our next dry summer.

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply and for your advice. cheers.

 

Thanks so much. I will prune a bit then .... lol. Just sooooo many different opinions. But nice to know that they might shoot from the bottom anyway. Cheers.

 

If you doen't prune them you can then lay them later if you want to, which way is up to you, it doesn't really make to much differents as when the hedge gets to the size you want you just trim them to tidy them up

 

If the new growth is flexible enough you could even bend them over and tie it all together as a proper living fence, like this: