I've had a thriving, now three-year-old clump of M. basjoo in my back vegetable garden, that I mulch every fall and uncover every April to reach about 8 feet tall. Normally, it has a few feet of stalk already coming up when I pull off the straw, but this year, after a super cold winter, I only saw a pile of mush.

I thought it had died. I dug it out, only to find a very healthy rootball two feet around full of baby pups - which got split into 4 big chunks.

I felt horrible now, that I killed my banana and it would have come back, and thought for sure with the main bulb broken apart it was doomed but gave it one last shot, and after tilling and loosening again the plot of dirt (figured it wouldn't hurt), I buried the four bulb portions in the plot, in a rough square around where the original plant was, about 3 feet apart from eachother.

Will these broken bulbs grow new sprouts and form a new clump again? Or did I kill my plant breaking the bulb? Is there anything I could do to help speed the growth of the new tiny pups if they appear so I can get my big tree back sooner?