Musa, Banana 'Raja Puri'

This is a great plant for those who want to grow bananas in colder climates.
You can get fruit if you can keep the psudeostem (mai...Read Moren stem of the plant) above 28 or so for 16 months. Mine currently has a bunch, and is protected from cold by a quickly thrown together temporary greenhouse. Last year, I dug the plant up and left it in a cool garage over winter, and the psudeostem survived. This is also a great ornamental plant if you can't keep the stem alive, as it will resprout from the corm and provide 3-4 foot long and wide leaves that make a great tropical look. The main requirements for this plant are lots of fertilizer, FULL SUN, and lots of water (but it can't be sitting in water).
The psudeostem will get 6-8 feet tall before it fruits.
This plant is quite wind-tolerant and heat tolerant (it survives over 100 degree days) However, in high wind the leaves will be shredded, but the psudeostem will not fall down.
Please be aware that this plant is HIGHLY suceptable to Black Stigatoka, so if you have this disease in your area, you will not be able to maintain it for long. This disease is only found in more tropical climates, so most more northernly growers of this plant do not have to worry.

Also, the proper name of this plant is Musa "Rajapuri" (AAB Group) as this plant is not solely derived from M. acuminata.

Eizus: No, that's the normal lifecycle of a banana. They grow from an underground stalk, called a corm. The above-ground stalk only li...Read Moreves to fruit; after it fruits, it dies. The plant continues on by shooting up what are known as "suckers" or "pups", which can take the place of the older parent tree when it dies. You can cut some off with a shovel and re-pot them to get new trees.

Grandpapdj: It's not fruiting because it's not getting enough light.

Our Rajapuri is nearly two years old. Since we live in a zone 4/5 area it lives inside with us year-round. It is a beautiful plant that ...Read Morenearly touches our 8 foot ceiling. It lives in a south facing window and seems to be happy there but it hasn't fruited yet. When can we expect fruiting and is there something we an do to encourage it?

I'm a beginner banana grower and this plant was most rewarding.

By just supplying water with fertilizer once in a while, i...Read Moret performs very well and grows fast.

It stands up to wind very well. I haven't noticed a lot of insect problems either.