I haven't watered them for a week or two. It got to -13c recently. If i had watered them, it would prob'ly turn to ice anyway. So what do I do now? Do I bring them inside? If so, do I water them when they're inside? Is the brown gonna turn green again if I do?

cedars have scale like foliage, clinging to the stem much more so then protruding from it. however, saying cedar is like saying your pet is a dog. there are lots of different kinds.

some could winter just fine in the balcony and not need a moment's thought the whole winter. some might want some bags of leaves around the pot, and some might be already dead. ya kinda need to know whatcha got to know anything else.

if i were to geuss, and this would be as accurate as my spelling, you have a cold hardy plant in a pot on your balcony. some kind of insulation around the pot (bags of leaves) would be all you need to do. but then again...yeah...gotta know what ya got.

Find a place where the soil is still workable...look behind a foundation plant...near the wall, it should provide sufficient warmth that the soil is not frozen.
If the plant is in a pot--and it drains well, plant pot and all into a hole you dig behind the shrubbery. Otherwise, remove from the pot, spread the roots and plant it; maybe with the addition of some fresh potting soil.
Wind is the enemy...the shrubbery will give winter protection from the drying winds.
When you plant it, water it in well.....very well.
Mulch the surface around the plant, bring boughs of evergreens around the plant; this will give added protection from the freeze/thaw cycles that occur every winter. The next protection could be in the form of a good winter with lots of snow.

Next spring, find a suitable place to plant it OUTDOORS....
Give a little evergreen food--30/x/x or superphosphate to aid development of the roots, then admire it after it comes back to its former self.

If temps don't dip much more than 13C, there shouldn't be any problem, assuming your two plants are Araucarias.

Once needles brown, they will not revert to green. This applies to any conifer.

A pic would be nice... Toni

That was -13C, about 9F. I would have thought these plants would die at that temp, or at least on their way to being compost.

http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a05/q5/7b/potted-evergr eens-1.1-800x800.jpg

I brought the plants in yesterday night. I really need the balcony space free in the winter anyway, and I don't have any garden soil I can plant them in. I did not give them water, because I could not stick the water meter into the soil (too hard!). I imagine the ice has probably melted today, and they can be watered. Should they? A friend told me this plant doesn't require watering in the winter. But I don't know if that applies only to when it is outside?

The small evergreen is in a pot with no drainage (but it's the one that's doing reasonably well, mostly green!). The large evergreen is in a pot, that is in a larger pot that is resting on rocks, so I believe it is for draining. The backside of this one was all brown from top to bottom, so I removed the brown parts by scraping. It's a lot scrawnier than it used to be, but it's still in not too too bad condition! Ok, so the "needles" won't magically turn green again... but will they grown back?!

Amos, I apoligize. Didn't see '-/minus'. A horse of a different color. No way would NIP survive in -13C/9F.

Amos, sorry to say, needles will not grow back.

The person who told you not to water, 'all winter,' is wrong. If soil dries too much more needles will brown and drop to the floor.
But, NIP's do not like wet feet either..Therefore, the plant in a pot without drainage will need repotting. Can you drill holes in the pot so water can escape?

My connection is messed up so I can't open your picture..I'll retry in a few. Toni

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8239917132_314c8c6a3c_z.jpg

So, once we've established what it is, I'd still like to know....

Can I leave it inside during the winter? (No room on the balcony outside!)
Do I need to water it?
Will it eventually grow new needles to replace all those that have turned brown!

-FPT

I would not grow it inside.
I have many in pots, and they survive winter without any fussing. I just leave them where they get enough snow, so they don't dry out.

Why do you want to keep them inside?
Is the balcony too windy?
Brown part is most likely dead - you will see in spring.
You can always prune dead branches - obviously, depends where they are on the tree. How tall do you want them to be?
(photo from net)

Rina

Because sometimes the snow piles up higher than the plant itself. Now that may not be a problem for the plant, but its a problem for me when I have to shovel all the snow off the balcony. I don't want to have to be moving a 50+lb plant off the balcony in the winter (it hurt my back moving it recently, and that was with no snow on it). Why does it have to winter outside, if it always lived and thrived in a pot?

As long as its alive and relatively green, it doesn't really matter to me how tall the plants are.

"...but they said they were trees starting from 10 ft..."

They have to be 3 feet before they get to be 10 feet. ;-)

tj

The reason I asked about the size is that you could keep it pruned to size fitting/'in scale with' the space you have on balcony. It would be more manageable too.
And you may be able to prune off-out the brown branches.
Rina