Hi There - I am growing the Red Zebra tomatoes. I grew them from seed and they are currently growing in 5 gallon buckets on my deck. I have been plucking the suckers but I noticed at the base of the plant there are large stems that are almost the size of the actual stem itself - although they aren't suckers in the way that I understand them (stems growing from joints in the plant). Are these normal on a tomato plant or should i chop these guys off? I planted these late so I still don't have any fruit - but I'm curious as to if these are also causing the plant to not bear any.

The ones with the twine around them are the original stem - the other two being the ones I'm not clear about. Thank you in advance - I am a gardening newbie!