Make sure the hedge is fenced against stock. Deer, rabbits and hares may also cause problems by nibbling the young shoots. Temporary electric fencing may be needed where the problem is severe.
Check the hedge at least once during the first growing season, and take action as necessary if weeds have grown up. Bramble can smother a newly laid hedge within a year. Cut back all brambles to ground level, and pull out the growths to make sure the tips don’t root. Dig out those bramble roots to which you have easy access. Cleavers or goose grass, an annual scrambling plant with sticky leaves and stems, can also grow up thickly and smother new growth. As cleavers dies it contracts and distorts the young shoots. Pull it all out before it produces its sticky seeds. Nettles are not normally a problem even if fairly thick, as the young hedge shoots can grow up amongst them.
Hand trim the hedge for the first two to three years to encourage bushy growth inside the hedge. Cut it back to its shape when newly laid, using loppers, secateurs, billhook or slasher as preferred. An electric hedge trimmer can also be used. Trim the top to just below the tops of the stakes. This should be done in June or July, after the nesting season, and to allow new shoots formed after this pruning to harden before winter.
After this, the hedge can be trimmed every three years by machine, during late winter, to the required width and height.
