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Had a small brush fire and 2 of my cedars were damaged and burnt, will they grow back. The damage was pretty severe. It burned back to the main structure of the tree leaving the main trunk and bigger part of the branches black and stripped of any foliage.

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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Tracy
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  • Can we have pictures, please? And what kind of cedar are we talking about? Sorry to hear about the fire and welcome to Gardening SE! – Stephie Sep 06 '16 at 19:21
  • 'Burned back to the main structure of the tree'...The vital vascular circulatory system for food and water is just below the bark. Only an 1/8th of an inch +/- thick. How large were these trees? What percentage of foliage? With no photosynthesis there will be no food to send to the roots and no reason to send water and chemicals up to facilitate photosynthesis. If they were burned below the bark and there is no green vascular system left, yes those trees are goners. Hard to visualize a 'small brush' fire damaging mature cedars however. Pictures!! – stormy Sep 06 '16 at 19:58

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Sadly, if the trees are still alive, they may regrow - but only at the top or the ends of any branches which are still viable. It will not regenerate or grow new branches or needles where they once existed. You might want to consider removing them and replanting, or just wait and see how they look if they do start growing again. This answer assumes you mean Cedrus varieties when you say Cedar.

Bamboo
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  • another quirk of horticulture is that in North America when they say Cedar they mean Thuja. You are correct either way, the plants will get top growth and be powerfully ugly for a number of years – kevinskio Sep 06 '16 at 21:26
  • I made the caveat feeling it might mean thuja or cedrus, but wasn't sure it might not be used for, say, Yew as well! – Bamboo Sep 06 '16 at 21:27