Lifting Tulips

I know i`m early but i want to lift my tulips after flowering, do i dry them to store, or heel them in somewhere, and do i let all the leaves die back first.

I want to try this as i seem to lose them if i leave them in.

Also i have some in a pot that was on a windy corner and they have got damaged blooms and leaves, if i lift them will they be any good next year.

 

I leave mine in the ground 'till the foliage has died back. Then I lift them and store them in a dry place. I separate the little bulblets that form on the sides. In the Autumn I plant the main bulb as usual, and pop the bulblets in somewhere. The bulblets don't flower the next Spring but they get bigger. After 2 seasons of flowering the main bulb withers to nothing but the bulblets then are big enough to produce flowers.:wink:
I'd leave the ones in the pots 'till the foliage dies back and try the same idea. Providing the leaves are still in one piece they should provide enough energy for the bulb to try again next year.

 

Pam, I would leave them as long as possible. Preferably, as Cajary said, till the foliage has died back. But I remember Christopher Lloyd saying that you could lift them somewhat earlier and leave them (bare rooted) somewhere in the sun to allow the leaves to die back.

So I lift mine when the leaves are starting to brown. Then I leave them in a pot, in the dry with the leaves in the sun, until they have completely dried. Actually I usually leave them for several months, because I forget about them.

Perhaps because my method is slightly different to Cajary's or perhaps because my bulbs are a different type, my main bulb always split into 3 or 4 smaller bulbs. I never have a single bulb left. And like Cajary I plant the biggest bulbs in the 'to flower' pots and put the rest in a 'nursery' pot. Even though my bulbs always split about half of the resultant bulbs are big enough to flower the next year.

 

Thank you both, I would be inclined to go with Peters idea as i want to keep the colours and types seperate. :wink:
Also I planted them in October (I think) as I had just finished the bed and wanted to get everything in,but this year it will be an easier job to just drop them in. :lollol: