Minibel liars?

[14ftSunflower]

I have 11 minibel tomato plants. They say they don't need staking and only grow to 1ft high, then bush out.
The smallest of the 11 is 40cm tall, and the tallest is 80cm, and looks like it probably needs staking.
All are successfully flowering and setting, and I started tomoriting a week ago.
What is happening? why are they so tall? Will they ever bush out or can I plant them closer together due to their wierd height?

Also, I was told not to remove sideshoots of bush tomato plants. As these aren't bushing out, should I start doing so? (each plant has at least 4 sideshoots, each of which is starting to develop a truss)

[Scarlet]

No, don't pinch out the side shoots, that's where your fruits will form. They may have become leggy from lack of light. Where have you been keeping them?

[Florence Fennel]

If you can see the trusses of fruit, nip out the top so they don't get any taller and they'll bush out.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Spot on ladies. Leggy through lack of light, nip off top leading shoot and they will bush. I have to do this with my early Tumbler.

[14ftSunflower]

They are kept on a west-facing windowsill that gets light from 11 onwards. I thought this might be enough?

[14ftSunflower]

Also, each plant has 2 or 3 trusses at the very top. Should I nip these off or not?
As soon I may plant these out, because I haven't let them bush out yet can I space them closer together?

[Two_Sheds]

They are kept on a west-facing windowsill that gets light from 11 onwards. I thought this might be enough?

No, it's not nearly enough.
Outside, the plants would be getting 12+ hrs of good strong daylight. In a greenhouse, slightly less but still good.
Indoors, they get only a fraction of that. You can search gaggle for how many "lumens" or "lux" you get in different situations

[horticultural_hobbit]

Grew minibel when I first started growing. Nothing mini about it. Didn't go up, as it were, but it did go sideways. Very much sideways. Never nipped the sideshoots off though. In my experience, I put them out when they were leafy, and about 25-30 cm high and let mother nature do her thing. Were okay for me as a starter.

[Penellype]

I had the same problem with Totem (bush) last year - they get taller than you expect and you have to stake them or the fruits lie on the floor. I agree light is likely to be the problem. The human eye is a very poor light meter because the dimmer the light the wider your pupil opens to let in more light. Quite dim positions can therefore appear to be reasonably bright when in fact they are not.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Like I said cut the leader off including any flowers etc and it will start to throw out side shoots lower down between a leaf stem and the main stem leave these on and Bobs your auntie