To prune laurel hedge or not?

[sun flower]

Hi, I've attached 2 pics of our laurel hedge.
It was planted last year and I'm wondering if I should cut it by half to encourage it to bush out at the bottom?
It's a little scraggy.
It stands about 4.5 to 5 ft tall.

Any advice greatly appreciated ... thanks

 

[Meadowlark]

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Seems to me that pruning by half might be pushing it...maybe a third this year and again as needed.

 

[DiggersJo]

Another weed... But I agree, if you want it to bush out taking a third off the top seems about right. We also use Laurel as a back hedge by the way so not anti-laurel