puzzlejunky
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Location: Southwestern PA, zone 6b

lemon balm. is this from frost?

My lemon balm leaves have brown tips. We had a frost last week. Could it be from that or something else? It had a baby this spring..and the young plant doesn't look damaged.

I'm hoping it's just the frost and not something more serious. I don't normally water or fertilize, our soil and climate seems to do just fine for it usually.

I'm not sure if I uploaded the photo correctly. It's my first photo.
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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Lemon balm is extremely frost hardy. I don't know what caused the browning edges, rain/ watering, frost, etc. But mint family plants (like lemon balm) are pretty prone to it and generally it is not serious. If it doesn't get worse, I wouldn't worry about it. We can get too obsessive about every little mark; nature isn't perfect.

In my yard, lemon balm is becoming a pest. Like other mints, it spreads easily and little bothers it.

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shadylane
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Location: North Central Illinois

it looks like mine, I'm in zone 5 and have been seeing fluctuating temperatures up into low/high 70's and then high 50's lows 23-38's at night. There have been weeks of heavy frosts. Lets both see what happens in a couple of weeks

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GardeningCook
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Location: Upper Piedmont area of Virginia, Zone 7a

While Lemon Balm is normally a very hardy pest-free plant, there is one definitive way to tell if this was due to frost - give it a haircut. Lemon Balm responds very well to pruning. When you're sure you're past any future hard frosts, prune or pinch off the sprigs that have brown-edged leaves. If no further browning occurs on the new & remaining growth, the problem was most likely the weather.

Keep in mind that as the season progresses, Lemon Balm can also get brown scorched leaf tips from being allowed to dry out too much in the summer's hot sun. If that happens, you can prune again (as well as vow to up your watering :wink: ).

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shadylane
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Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2011 11:42 am
Location: North Central Illinois

Here are a couple of pictures of two weeks between. As Gardeningcook has explained it looks like she has the golden bell "DING" :()

this photo the week after the hard freeze
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This is week two
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