A little scared to wander in here... As someone with horses who buys hay and incorporates it into a complete feeding program I would not assume that "quality hay" infers "high protein hay." What I'm looking for in "quality hay" is clean, properly baled (not molded or dusty) hay that is palatable. If you go ask any random horse person if they feed "quality hay" for the most part they are NOT going to be thinking about protein content when they answer! I have horses with a higher metabolism that need more total digestible nutrients from their hay and they may get a hay with higher protein in the form of legumes. I've got fatties that need no additional nutrients in their hay but the nature of a horse's digestive system is one that does better if they keep small amounts of forage moving through it so I try to find them something palatable with low TDN and low protein. But they all get "quality hay." Cattle farmers who are either producing milk or beef might be more likely to equate protein with quality, not so much horse owners.

Ok, I'm in California (Long Beach) ... Zone 10. I'm brand new to all this gardening stuff. This year was my first year ever to grow anything and I'm making tons of mistakes (but learning). The entire idea of even growing a garden was sort of a joking challenge on behalf of my wife. I did not trim suckers off my tomato plants at all until I read a couple of articles and saw a you tube video ... and this guy said, "I want to grow tomatoes, not tomato plants." So I started trimming suckers off my tomato plants ... to the point I was afraid I would kill the plant. OMG!!!!! My plants went crazy ... they exploded on me with the tomatoes, they are shooting out all over the damned place. In the picture below, that plant right there (and that's just one) is only about 4 feet high, its growing into my jalapeno plants, into my artichokes ... my cage can't support it (I got it tied off about 4 ways to Sunday) ... you can see all the tomatoes on the plant and that's just on that side ... and ... I've probably gotten 20 tomatoes off that plant already. I totally underestimated everything about these tomato plants! But regardless, I am a convert now about trimming suckers off my plant, if it doesn't have hair and its not growing up ... it gets pruned off. BTW, I'm using Ferry Morris Beefmaster, Hybrid seeds (my wife picked up on sale at Rite-Aid) that I grew from seed in a dixie-cup starting back in February ... and I moved em into the ground towards the end of March and just started watering. I didn't even think the silly things would grow, it was just dirt I scraped the grass off of and broke up (I did stir in some potting soil left over ... a little more then half a bag). We're getting tomatoes the size of my fist (some larger, some smaller). We already have had BLT's several times, gave away tomatoes, had em on our burgers and salads, and made a pot of home-made spaghetti sauce that fed 6. I'm like totally blown away ... its like jack and the bean-stalk!

Sorry to rain on your parade, but your are in error when you suggest that Consumer Reports is biased. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, contrary to your assertions, makes a point that they are wholly owned and paid for by their membership and have never taken advertising. So your assertion that they are biased by their advertisers suggests you were perhaps reading Consumer Digest (owned by Kiplinger), not Consumer Reports. I have been a member/subscriber of CU for 30 years and have found them to be an excellent source of information across the board. They have a staff of competent engineers and scientists, consultant specialists, and panels of users that actually test the products. Their tests show that seldom is any one brand good across the board or across its spectrum of products --so Olympic's acrylic latex opaque stain is very good in almost all categories, its semi-transparent flunks on some scores, its transparent flunks on others, and so on for almost every manufacturer in almost every product line, and so on. I'll take that kind of unbiased product-specific, attribute-specific analysis over any single opinion even by a professional in the field, since none of can claim to have put an array the current crop of products by different manufacturers to side-by-side tests in a variety of conditions --especially when they almost all have already developed an allegiance to a single product line, usually based upon an experience with a version of the product that is no longer available. I haven't done an objective, quality controlled survey on this, so my opinion on it not worth much, but in my own limited experience in seeking bids, every painter has had an allegiance to one or two brands, and seldom have their choices been the same. But they almost all are convinced they know which are best. Insofar as your claim that the Big Box stores carry inferior versions of the products, what proof do you have of this, or is that speculation?

no ,oooooo .... i quite clearly said any number of shocks .. as in transport.. micro climate and LARGE transplant shocks ... including its first winter after planting shock ... which would include winter winds on a plant with truncated roots.. as well as winter sun.. warming the needles only to be cast back into severe winter cold at dusk ... unspoken , of course .... and i further noted.. w/o a pic. ... i couldnt go further ... THEN!!!! .. mentioned the problems with mine.... which as i know recall.. this plant was to turn the xmas tree industry on its head.. until carp happened ...... of crikey OP ...john.... enjoy the heck out of it .... forget the rambles of one old man.. and one not as old ... [dont try to figure that out. . lol] ken