So by not trimming the sucker stems on my Black Krim I now have a rather gorgeous fruit growing on a very unstable branch.
The solution is a stake.
Of course, this is one of the two pots I used the old rusty tomato cages in, so now this pot has an old rusty tomato cage and a stake.
It’s kinda like that all around tomato land.
The sun gold actually lost several fruit laden branches which was a tragedy, so to support the remaining sucker stems I have not one but two stakes in this pot.
It’s not ideal.
The San Francisco fog is just starting to set out fruit and it was always a gerry-rigged system. It’s got two stakes and a hoop which have proven inadequate so now it has a diagonal stake trying to help matters.
The sauce pot has no problems.
My incredibly awkward system of four stakes and vinyl tape encircling said stakes is maybe not the prettiest thing in the world but I’ve done something right- as I’ve gotten my first ripe tomato that wasn’t a sun gold.
The sauce pot is a mess, don’t get me wrong- it was three Roma plants in one that I should have separated but I was afraid of damaging them… anyways three tomatoes in one pot is less than ideal but so far it seems to be ok.
This is very ok.
It looks like my impulse to get the two visitacion valleys was a correct one as well, seeing as the fruit that was already on the plant is starting to ripen.
I’ve got to clean up those bottom stems though- I’ve learned my lesson.
I’ve also got to add a few more stakes to the color bed. My lemon boy is growing great- and I don’t want the problems that the pots have at the moment.
The only tomato that seems to have been fully ok with its initial staking system is the sweet 100- which has obediently grown inside it’s rusty old tomato cage.
Thank you sweet 100, at least one of you had to obey me.
The Neanderthal Gardens 
I always thought that Romas, besides being our most common tomato, were more cooperative than the rest. Some get sloppy no matter what we do with them. I doubt that removing the sideshoots would have helped. More stems are actually more compact than all the growth concentrated into fewer vining stems.
The roma mess was three plants in a 2 gallon pot from sloat- I put it in on a whim and have now been rewarded for said whim. As you say, a good paste does well here and even with the three plant mess it seems to be ok.
Well yes. With tomatoes, a certain degree of sloppiness is just tolerated. That is how they are.