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Why do banana trees stop producing fruits after their first harvest?
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The banana "tree" is not a tree at all but a shoot from an underground stem. When it flowers, the growing tip of the shoot becomes a flowering stem when then supports the fruits. Since the growing part of the shoot can no longer grow (because it was converted into a flowering shoot) the whole shoot dies off after the fruit has been set. The plant itself is mostly underground; it doesn't die but produces more shoots (more "trees").
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'myrtguy' has said it succinctly nothing more to add.
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