Question
Hi,

I'm a newbie at African violets as well as houseplants in general, so there's a lot I could be doing wrong.  But here's my situation:

I bought my violet without blooms and transferred it to a self-watering pot.  I then had to leave town for a month, so the violet lived happily at my boyfriend's house where he watered it once a week and kept it near a north-ish facing window.  Shortly after I brought it back to my house and placed it near my southwest-facing window, it started developing light brown spots like those described previously, although the leaves stayed full and firm for weeks before finally withering from the edges.  During this time, the plant opened its first three blooms.  I've tried letting the plant dry out a bit more between waterings, opening the blinds during the day and keeping them closed, and taking the fertilizer out of the water, but none of these seem to have any effect.

You advised previously that simply removing the brown leaves would solve the problem.  However, at this point, the brown spots have spread to almost all the leaves.  Should I pull off all the leaves?  Is there some other course of action I should undertake?

Thanks!

Answer
Veronica,
I'm always happy when folks send me followup questions, because I like to help as much as I can, and if I'm unclear about something I appreciate the opportunity to expound on my answers or to provide further information.

It sounds to me like you might have a good case of ROOT ROT on your hands.  I will assume that when you were away your boyfriend only put water in the bottom part of the self-waterer and not directly into the soil.  That is the purpose of self-watering pots.  Even though African violets love to be moist, they cannot take being wet.  Also, I want to voice my concern about the amount of sunlight.  You mentioned a north-facing window, and then moving back to your house near a southwest window.  Well, neither of these are good for violets.  Northwest exposures just do not have the amount of light these need, and southwest exposures might be OK for spring, but keep in mind in the summer the strong western rays could bleach, damage or kill many leaves.  I have had this happen before myself.  

What I am getting at is explaining what caused this root rot, if indeed that is what it is.  You were right to stop fertilizing.  That is the first measure one must take when any plant is sick or exhibiting symptoms.  You mentioned letting the plant dry out more between waterings.  That was a good instinct on your part.  Apparently, the violet did not dry out enough.  If left wet for any period of time violets will die very gradually.  Root rot is a tough one, because it is hard to treat, and not curable.  It's one of those diseases that is pretty easy to prevent, though.

It truly does sound like an advanced case of root rot by your description.  The fact that it is spreading is not good.  Yes, you can and SHOULD pull of all brown, affected leaves.  If you have left over ANY green at all, or just a small crown of green leaves, with proper care you can nurse this patient back to fairly good health, despite all the amputations!  I've done it before. If, however, there are not but 1-2 green leaves left in the center, then you may need to discard the plant.  That sounds drastic, and to me it is always a little sad.  But, there is no cure for root rot.  

I sincerely hope you can rehabilitate this violet.  If you cannot, then you can purchase another pretty violet and start over with lots more knowledge and experience.  I'm giving you the web site of the American Society of African Violets.  They have the best info available, because they are professionals.  They also have a Q&A forum.  Let me say one thing about self-watering pots.  They are very easy and convenient, but they are only as effective as the MATERIAL they are made from.  Most are made of ceramic, and the process by which they water the violets is like 'osmosis' in a way; in other words it is figured that the violet will only absorb as much water as it needs, thus preventing over-watering.  I have tried two different brands in the past, and one was better than the other.  I feel like maybe the walls of the inner part were too thin on one, and my violet ended up too wet.  If I had not checked it I could have lost it to root rot, as well.  They are life savers for people who travel, and also for vacations, but violets much be checked frequently.  It is always a pleasure to work with someone who really cares about their plants and wants to do things right.  Below is the web address of the African Violet society.  They also have numerous links to other helpful sites.  Good luck!
www.avsa.org.