Hey Edith...You definitely want to remove the dead leaves from your pot. Dead plant material provides the perfect location for fungal or bacterial infection. If the dead leaves are infected, they will act as breeding grounds for disease causing microorganisms. Either throw the leaves out or compost them. The process of composting will "pasteurize" the decaying leaf matter. Compost piles, when it's done properly, will heat up to temperatures that can kill off disease causing fungal spores and bacteria. I bet what you are seeing on your decaying leaves is gray mold, aka Botrytis. Very common and very easily spread. I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers, Robby
