Kulchitsky’s Unique (Unikalnyi Kulchitskogo) Potato Leaf Tomato Review

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Quick Summary of Unikalnyi Kulchitskogo (Kulchitsky’s Unique)

  • 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety bred/selected by amateur vegetable grower M.G. Kulchitsky from Novorossiysk. The name translates to “Kulchitsky’s Unique”.
  • 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) outdoors and taller in a greenhouse. Features large Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. Known for its incredible vigor, disease resistance (especially to leaf mold / Cladosporium), and a unique ability to form fruit trusses at almost every internode.
  • 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Perfect, uniform, dense round red spheres weighing 60-80 g (2-2.8 oz). The fruits have a remarkable ability to hang tightly on the vine for a long time without dropping, even when fully ripe.
  • 👅 Flavor: A classic, old-fashioned, tangy tomato flavor. Reviews are somewhat divided—some find it a bit ordinary for fresh eating compared to sweet slicing tomatoes, while others praise its true, traditional acidic tomato taste.
  • Best Uses: Because of their perfect size, density, and thick skin, they are considered an absolute top-tier choice for whole-fruit canning, pickling, and sun-drying.
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Svetikk (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (29,344 posts)
📍 Moscow Region, Stupinsky District, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

A wonderful, very interesting variety, seeds from Igor Pechurin.

Indet with potato leaf, mid-season, very productive 🙌, fruits are calibrated red round dense balls up to 70g (2.5 oz), quite tasty. Ideal for jars 👍

Grew in the greenhouse in 3 stems. The bush is very festive 🙂

Kulchitsky's Unique heavy yield on vine
Potato leaf tomato plant loaded with red fruits
Unikalnyi Kulchitskogo perfectly round tomatoes

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LoraRa (Larisa) ⭐ Vegetable Grower (130 posts)
📍 Podolsk, Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4)

I also liked this variety. Seeds were from Svetlana. Set fruit well in the heat and the taste is quite decent.

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IVOLGA (Olga) ⭐ Moderator (1,560 posts)
📍 Moscow / Tver Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

As of this season, Kulchitsky’s Unique is my favorite too 👍 A gorgeous tomato. The seedlings were the strongest, most beautiful, like for an exhibition. Very productive, there were 5-7 fruits and more in a truss, didn’t drop blossoms, had the least leaf mold (Cladosporium) of all, early, tasty, even berries, dense – just right for pickling, I even sun-dried it, cutting it into 4 parts. I will definitely plant it again and not just one bush. 😘 Seeds were from Natalya, a huge thank you to her for them! 🌺
Didn’t take pictures of the red ones, but you can see it even from the green ones 👍

Green trusses of Unikalnyi Kulchitskogo

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SvetaR (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (27,468 posts)
📍 Moscow Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

It grew for me last year. Yes, it was a handsome one too. But the taste was very mediocre. Perhaps because last summer was cold… And besides, its skin somehow separated from the flesh when eating it fresh.

I saved seeds, of course, but I will hardly repeat it.

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Yulya (Yuliya) ⭐ Pro Grower (26,992 posts)
📍 Alexandrov, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Very productive tomato, beautiful small red balls. Probably good for processing. But the taste is nothing special.

Small red tomato fruit

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Yaroslavna (Natalya) ⭐ Pro Grower (6,273 posts)
📍 Northern Yaroslavl Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)

Kulchitsky’s Unique. The variety really lives up to its name “Unique” 👍

Variety from an amateur vegetable grower M.G. Kulchitsky from Novorossiysk. In our climate zone, it showed all its best qualities, has an extended fruiting period and what surprised me, the fruits are able to stay on the plant for a long time, even when fully ripe. A strong plant with large potato leaves, strikes with its unique ability to form fruit trusses in almost every internode! The fruits are dense, 60-80 g (2-2.8 oz) with a classic tomato flavor.
I grew it in a greenhouse last year, tried to leave all the fruit trusses on the plant until the end of the season – I really wanted to show this bush at the exhibition…
In late August, I transplanted it into a large bucket, the bush showed off at the exhibition and stood on the balcony for a long time after that… the fruits held very tightly to the branches ))

Seeds were kindly shared by our Svetlana! Thank you!!! 😘😘😘

Potted Unikalnyi Kulchitskogo loaded with fruit
Red tomato spheres on vine
Green trusses growing
Ripening stage of Unique tomato
Massive harvest on one plant
Exhibition display of Kulchitsky's Unique plant

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VictoryCat (Viktoriya) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,168 posts)
📍 Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia (USDA Zone 3)

Oh, what a beautiful still life! 👍 😋 🫡

Tomato still life

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Andrey_K (Andrey) ⭐ Pro Grower (994 posts)
📍 Unknown

Small and tasteless.. overall it’s not worth planting.

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Irina Fedorova (Irina) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,640 posts)
📍 Kaliningrad, Russia (USDA Zone 6)

The variety is truly unique in terms of yield and fruit set. I removed the bush at the very end of October with a bunch of newly formed fruit clusters on the ends of the stems. The taste is an ordinary tomato one, but not nasty like some others. I will plant it again for the yield.

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mopsdad1 (Mikhail) ⭐ Pro Grower (6,123 posts)
📍 Stary Oskol, Russia (USDA Zone 5)

But I really liked the taste. A true tomato flavor. Various Pink Honeys (Rozoviy Myod) looked pale in taste compared to it.

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LanYa (Nelya) ⭐ Pro Grower (6,389 posts)
📍 Volga Region, Russia

Tell me, what height does it reach? And how does it behave in the open ground?

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LoraRa (Larisa) ⭐ Vegetable Grower (130 posts)
📍 Podolsk, Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4)

Nelya said:
Tell me, what height does it reach? And how does it behave in the open ground?

My height was approximately 160 cm (5.2 ft).

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LanYa (Nelya) ⭐ Pro Grower (6,389 posts)
📍 Volga Region, Russia

Larisa, thank you very much.. I’m just planning the seedlings for the new season..))

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