Northern Lights #5
- Thread starter stemarmel
- Start date
Like many greats, Northern Lights #5 is a strain steeped in mystery. Supposedly only Neville S. and the person he acquired it from Washington State "the Indian" are the only documented sources of this #5 clone. It is unclear if NL seedline was sold / available in wide amounts thru the USA in the 1980's. It is unclear if this was a true breeding line. I would say it was not a true breeding line like Skunk #1 based on all my research. All of Neville's writings indicate he had nine strains originally named #1 thru #9. All of the strains were different enough that they seem to not be a purebred line. Many written reports indicate the #5 plant was the most potent. The buds were described as tasting "peppery" and not stinky like skunk. The high was written about as being an instantaneous head crush, as soon as you exhaled the first hit you were high as giraffe pussy and did not want to do much except cough up phlegm. Although it is rumored the #5 is in other growers hands from Neville or other sources sharing the #5 this can not be proven and never will be. Even modern breeders claim to have the #5 but I don't believe it based on smoking and growing a lot of what they say is the #5.
On the East coast I acquired an extremely potent NL cutting in 1992 from an older East Coast somebody who was very connected to established California/westCoast growers. In those days we did not ask "hey where did this clone come from" because any questions like that on the East Coast would seem like a cop asking too many questions. So I never asked questions. It is not clear if "#5" was a clone only or referred to a common phenotype when growing *old* NL seedline. When I and friends grew this clone out, the buds were mostly white gray with a tinge of purple. NEVER GREEN. Always the buds came out whitish gray/purple no matter what the conditions! And yes it did taste a little like pepper, never sweet or anything else. The high we experienced from our beloved clone *seemed* like the #5... As soon as we exhaled we were high like never before, we would cough from the thickness and nature of the smoke. It's bronchial properties were amazing. Phlegm city. A year later (about 1993) the same older connected friend (and another dude my best friend) went to the cannabis cup and we grew nearly every strain from the Sensi Seeds catalog:
Hindu Kush
Sensi Skunk
Super Skunk
Shiva Shanti
Silver Haze
Aghani #1
Skunk Kush
Shiva Skunk
Of all eight of these strains, Hindu Kush and Afghani #1 were the most potent. The others were good but not great. Still... Neither the Hindu Kush and Afghani#1 could compare to the Northern Lights cutting we had acquired a couple years before. To this day I wonder if our older acquaintance friend had sourced the cutting from the USA underground scene or if he had acquired it from somebody who had gone to Amsterdam when Neville had the original #5 cutting and had not crossed it so many times and lowered the potency. This acquaintance was old school, paid half the rent for half the yield at numerous 49 plant grow houses, and never talked much.
After a couple years passed we had lost all the genetics because of amateur mistakes and to this day I have tried many many different companies including Sensi to try to find a plant that matched the potency, color, and flavor of the original cut we had. Everything I found was green and nowhere near the instantaneous skull crushing high of the original cut we had. I have read hundreds of smoke reports on other Northern Lights and alleged "NL#5" seeds and cuts and none match what we stumbled upon! To this day I do not care about modern strains and regret losing our NL cut it and hope someday it is found.
Of course the #5 still lives on somewhat because Neville crossed it with everything in his stable.
As far as growing it, at that time we just used perlite/vermiculite with hand watered EarthJuice daily and it practically grew itself, it was super easy to grow, healthy stems, finished pretty fast.
If anybody has more information on specifically the devastating #5 clone or very old northern lights stock before Sensi inbred it please share, even if it is just anecdotes!
On the East coast I acquired an extremely potent NL cutting in 1992 from an older East Coast somebody who was very connected to established California/westCoast growers. In those days we did not ask "hey where did this clone come from" because any questions like that on the East Coast would seem like a cop asking too many questions. So I never asked questions. It is not clear if "#5" was a clone only or referred to a common phenotype when growing *old* NL seedline. When I and friends grew this clone out, the buds were mostly white gray with a tinge of purple. NEVER GREEN. Always the buds came out whitish gray/purple no matter what the conditions! And yes it did taste a little like pepper, never sweet or anything else. The high we experienced from our beloved clone *seemed* like the #5... As soon as we exhaled we were high like never before, we would cough from the thickness and nature of the smoke. It's bronchial properties were amazing. Phlegm city. A year later (about 1993) the same older connected friend (and another dude my best friend) went to the cannabis cup and we grew nearly every strain from the Sensi Seeds catalog:
Hindu Kush
Sensi Skunk
Super Skunk
Shiva Shanti
Silver Haze
Aghani #1
Skunk Kush
Shiva Skunk
Of all eight of these strains, Hindu Kush and Afghani #1 were the most potent. The others were good but not great. Still... Neither the Hindu Kush and Afghani#1 could compare to the Northern Lights cutting we had acquired a couple years before. To this day I wonder if our older acquaintance friend had sourced the cutting from the USA underground scene or if he had acquired it from somebody who had gone to Amsterdam when Neville had the original #5 cutting and had not crossed it so many times and lowered the potency. This acquaintance was old school, paid half the rent for half the yield at numerous 49 plant grow houses, and never talked much.
After a couple years passed we had lost all the genetics because of amateur mistakes and to this day I have tried many many different companies including Sensi to try to find a plant that matched the potency, color, and flavor of the original cut we had. Everything I found was green and nowhere near the instantaneous skull crushing high of the original cut we had. I have read hundreds of smoke reports on other Northern Lights and alleged "NL#5" seeds and cuts and none match what we stumbled upon! To this day I do not care about modern strains and regret losing our NL cut it and hope someday it is found.
Of course the #5 still lives on somewhat because Neville crossed it with everything in his stable.
As far as growing it, at that time we just used perlite/vermiculite with hand watered EarthJuice daily and it practically grew itself, it was super easy to grow, healthy stems, finished pretty fast.
If anybody has more information on specifically the devastating #5 clone or very old northern lights stock before Sensi inbred it please share, even if it is just anecdotes!
there are a couple of sides to this question, maybe
there is the clone side, the NL clones live on in the genetic lineage of many cannabis lines
though who knows? clones could be kicking around somewhere
there is also the seed side, in particular from British Columbia Seed Bank
there was a time they sold a line of NL#5 seeds, many interesting smoke reports on these seeds
supposedly very strong, very good, and great yielder
however, as seed companies are known to do, BCSC's rep isn't good today, but that's only what i read
i personally grew out something called NL#5 from a breeder named highgrade
and what i got was very much like the descriptions of the BCSC seeds
maybe F2's made from the BCSC genetics by highgrade
however, highgrade has become a ripoff site, way shit goes down i guess
there is the clone side, the NL clones live on in the genetic lineage of many cannabis lines
though who knows? clones could be kicking around somewhere
there is also the seed side, in particular from British Columbia Seed Bank
there was a time they sold a line of NL#5 seeds, many interesting smoke reports on these seeds
supposedly very strong, very good, and great yielder
however, as seed companies are known to do, BCSC's rep isn't good today, but that's only what i read
i personally grew out something called NL#5 from a breeder named highgrade
and what i got was very much like the descriptions of the BCSC seeds
maybe F2's made from the BCSC genetics by highgrade
however, highgrade has become a ripoff site, way shit goes down i guess
I am finishing a NL 5 from Peak Seeds. Have done Nirvana NL, Classic NL, . Have some BCSC NL seeds on tap for next grow. They have the best rep afik.
The Classic was good but some confusion if these were the real deal since the seedbank I got them from went to being a ripoff and closed down. The Nirvana was strong but the buzz left a little to be desired for me anyway.
For growing they are supposed to be easy but I have had nute lockout issues last 2 grows so cannot really give any info, and I pre amend the soil so no idea on feeding stuff.
The Classic was good but some confusion if these were the real deal since the seedbank I got them from went to being a ripoff and closed down. The Nirvana was strong but the buzz left a little to be desired for me anyway.
For growing they are supposed to be easy but I have had nute lockout issues last 2 grows so cannot really give any info, and I pre amend the soil so no idea on feeding stuff.
Peaty Wheaty
Member
I'm cracking a pack of British Columbia Seed Company Northern Lights #5 tomorrow morning! Alongside a pack of Sensi Northern Lights (#1,#2x#5) and half a pack of DJ Shorts Blueberry.
I'm on the hunt for a NL mother and another of BB. I will grow out the other half pack of Blueberry next grow to make sure I have the best out of the beans I've got.
I will come back soon with a report of how they are progressing.
Peace
Peaty Wheaty
Member
Well I got held up for a while but I now have 6 British Columbia Northern Lights #5 seedlings starting week 2.
Two of the seedlings are looking good, two are OK and the final two are below average.
I'll keep the thread posted on how they are coming along.
Peace
Two of the seedlings are looking good, two are OK and the final two are below average.
I'll keep the thread posted on how they are coming along.
Peace
Peaty Wheaty
Member
Hello,
Sure, I'll keep the thread posted.
I know how much I rely on first person testimony when I'm researching a strain, so I'm happy to help too.
I
iffey
The cut that went around the east coast in the early 90's was also called the Mark V. Or mark five. It had a hashy coffee dank flavor that was amazing. Plenty of NL #5 back in the day, very easy to grow, dense, piney, dark, hashy, flavor with hints of chocolate and coffee all the way to just dank skunkyish. Very good resin production. Awesome plant, strong stone, but boring. Was best used for hybrids, added resin, weight, and brought down flowering time, without to much influence on flavor or effect.
Dr atomic makes some nice nl lines, fwiw
Peaty Wheaty
Member
My BCSC #5 seedlings are now 8-10 days old except for the 6th one which is only about day five or six.
I've had no setbacks since they came up out of the grow wool blocks I finished the germination in (after cracking the beans using the paper towel method).
I have then in pots with clay pebbles for later placement in a F&D system. The pots allow for easy movement of females after males show and are removed, thereby maximizing the grow space.
The plants look similar. The leaf is very broad, even just the first tri-leaves. The largest is thinner and stretchier than the others, but still broad leafed. The next two are almost identical, squat indica phenos. The youngest is still too small to comment on, it might not even make it.
The last one I have is a mutant. The first set of tri-leaves came out with the main finger and two "wings" on the left hand side. Nothing on the right at all. Half a leaf, only the middle finger is whole. Weird. Apart from that it looks healthy enough.
Another week and I should have a better idea how they are going. The environment, light etc etc is just about perfect for them so it's all up to genetics from here.
Peace
I've had no setbacks since they came up out of the grow wool blocks I finished the germination in (after cracking the beans using the paper towel method).
I have then in pots with clay pebbles for later placement in a F&D system. The pots allow for easy movement of females after males show and are removed, thereby maximizing the grow space.
The plants look similar. The leaf is very broad, even just the first tri-leaves. The largest is thinner and stretchier than the others, but still broad leafed. The next two are almost identical, squat indica phenos. The youngest is still too small to comment on, it might not even make it.
The last one I have is a mutant. The first set of tri-leaves came out with the main finger and two "wings" on the left hand side. Nothing on the right at all. Half a leaf, only the middle finger is whole. Weird. Apart from that it looks healthy enough.
Another week and I should have a better idea how they are going. The environment, light etc etc is just about perfect for them so it's all up to genetics from here.
Peace
Great, Informative and honest post MrB, lots of good information there, it will forever be remembered for "as soon as you exhaled the first hit you were high as giraffe pussy "
I was looking at peak seeds bc the other day and IIRC they have a NL5, but the page is down this morning, just giving ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT... So i cannot check info.
The BC BudDepot NL5 I tried a few years ago was OK, nothing more, certainly no holy grail of bud.
Funnily enough, none of these absolutely amazing strains that blow everything else out of the park are available, growers/tokers seem to be susceptible to Nostalgiitis to some extent, no doubt aided by low teenage tolerances and the unending cacophony of caca_de_toro from self styled Breeders.
Peakseedsbc is back up, and I was wrong, their offering is a plain "NL" ...
It is Dr Atomic who is selling NL5
It is Dr Atomic who is selling NL5
Giving you rep in the post since I cant do it with the button yet. Its really understanding the difference between a bred hybrid and a cultivar. The latter being only available through a cut of the original plant and not available through seed, NL#5 is a great example of marketing seeds as nostalgia and mythology.
Great info Lester, I wonder if that was the same cut we had. All I know is the cut we had back then was really stellar and way different than the NL seed lines of today. Were the nugs on Mark Five always gray purple in color? Thx
Yes they were very sliver-ish, with purpling on the tops of the tips. Def different than what iv seen from nirvana, as that's the only one I grew in recent years. They were green with orange hairs, classic looking buds. Nothing like the old NL.
topheavy420
Member
The PEZ cutting that floats around the PNW is rumored to be nl#5. I've grown it many times and its uncanny how much it looks like old pics of her. Although it's awfully stinky and NL is more of a low odor strain. It could very well be the original nl#5 cut but there's no way to prove it. Great cutting tho, try it if you get a chance.
