History of the Northern Lights

[growkind]

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on how this strain came about ? From what i can remember reading somewhere is that there were 9 plants labled 1-9, and with 3,5, and 9 being special, is that true? This is a strain that i have always wanted to grow, but too busy with the hybrids, altho, i did order some NL#5 one time, but they were out and had to settle for am alternate. just looking for info

 

[mtnjohn]

i was looking too and saw your post ...this is what i found

Added by: MisterIto Last edited by: Team GrowFAQ Viewed: 460 times Rated by 8 users: 7.33/10
I got familiar with the Northern lights family (originally said to be from the Pacific Northwest) back in the 1980's when Nevil's Seed Bank offered the whole lineup. The original Northern Lights family is genetically diverse.

Northern Lights 1 was a single stalked, compact plant with a moderate Afghani smell. No one offers this classic version at this time. A strong plant and buzz.

Northern Lights 2 was a sturdy, pine tree shaped with a musty and piney odor. Dutch Passion (Oasis) and THSeeds (Closet Queen) currently offer versions.

Northern Lights 2 X 5 from The Seed Bank was very bushy and resinous with a strong juniper berry smell. A truly remarkable hybrid not offered by anyone.

Northern Lights 5 is available from BCSC for $75, a variety Nevil of The Seed Bank said was only available pure as a cutting. It is likely hybridized at one point.

Northern Lights 9 X 5 "disappeared" when Nevil sold his genetics to Sensi Seeds. This is the only original Northern Lights 9 genetics source to my knowledge.

These are the original Northern Lights breeding lines from which today's versions arose. Sensi Seed Bank sells Northern Lights with no number attached. Having access to Nevil's original genetics, my guess is that they crossed an Northern Lights 1 male to their Northern Lights 5 mother and stabilized the results. Northern Lights Special is a hybrid from KC Brains in Holland of Sensi's Northern Lights crossed to a Haze female. Northern Lights 9 was only sold in seed form as a hybrid to the Northern Lights 5 mother plant by Nevil at The Seed Bank during the late 1980's. Sagarmatha receives a lot of their strains delivered to them as a finished product from outside breeders. It is possible that someone produced these seeds. The known fact of a Northern Lights 9 male existing meant purebred seed should have been possible to produce, unless it was a male only strain. Trichome Technologies has a strain named Northern Lights 6, another related family member.

 

[pastor420]

Now is Northern Light (no "s") the same strain? Occasionally I see it listed as such, for instance in Nirvana's line.

 

[jimbroker]

Does anyone have any information as far as what the origins of the original northern lights strain? What landraces are in its heredity? Who was the original breeder?

The GrowFAQ quoted shows that Nevil offered the strain. Did he ever talk about the origins of Northern Lights anywhere? I would especially appreciate any quotes people might have from Nevil.

It seems the least is known about this strain of the "big 3" i.e. Haze, Skunk and NL.

 

[nelumbo]

In the big book of bud One by Ed rosenthal sensi seed NorthernLight is Nl2 x Nl5 ...

But sometime the pedigree from those books are wrong or approximative ...

in the background, northern light is thai weed with afghani.

 

[Bluebeard]

Does anyone have any information as far as what the origins of the original northern lights strain? What landraces are in its heredity? Who was the original breeder?

The GrowFAQ quoted shows that Nevil offered the strain. Did he ever talk about the origins of Northern Lights anywhere? I would especially appreciate any quotes people might have from Nevil.

It seems the least is known about this strain of the "big 3" i.e. Haze, Skunk and NL.

I don't have any quotes from Neville, except for some stuff from his seed catalogs, but NL was originally a 25% Thai 75% Afghani bred by an unnamed breeder in washington state. The original plants were very hardy in growth leading some to believe it was originally bred for outdoors. It is hard to say for sure, but from what I can tell some of the northern lights numbers refer to both a cutting from the original seeds, as well as a seedline. For example, NL#1 was a cutting, but it also was originally used to label the cross of NL5 X NL2. NL#2 was also used to name the cross of NL#2 X Hindu Kush.

 

[Elevator Man]

but NL was originally a 25% Thai 75% Afghani bred by an unnamed breeder in washington state.

That's more or less what I understood to be the origins - Robert Connell Clarke's introduction to The Cannabible Vol 1 backs that up (without percentages), and also states that it was an established seed variety in the Pacific NW by 1978, and travelled to Amsterdam as four live clones.

In the body text he mentions that the Sinsemilla Seed Co. introduced in the early '80's, although his table of Dutch seed companies suggests that Sensi Seeds introduced it as a new cultivar in 1985.

 

[jimbroker]

Thanks for the responses. It was my understanding that it was composed of some kind of indica and maybe there was some Thai in there as well. I have also read that it is adapted for outdoor growing in northern climates.

nelumbo: Ed Rosenthal's BBoB is known for its inaccuracies. Take what he says with a grain of salt. =)

 

[oldtoker]

i was lucky enough to sample northern lights from pnw, the cat i got it from told me it was nearly 30 yrs old cutting from the backwoods town. he kept it for maybe 5 runs and then discontinued the use, he also was growing mothership,arcata trainwreck,old school haze,african purple,bannana, and some very other rare strains. as i can remmber it had alot of potencty more in a now ur stoned way not really sativa'ish at all. maybe im trying to say i cant remmber tasteing any thai in it and i remmber the buds were dense but not huge they sorta had the pencil shape but fatter like a hot dog bun. so perhaps it could be a hybrid of thai and afghani. i personally think the name came from smoking to much of it and head rushing so bad u see colors. one time i smoked so much hash of it when i stood up the whole room went purple i was gonna pass out so i just sat right back down lol. it was great but lacked the taste of the other stuff he had. defantly something to breed with id say. i have some mantanuska x nl#5 cross seeds but they are perrty far down on the list. at this point as the sativas have taken my heart.

 

[nick11]

From Sam's site:

The genetics of Northern Lights is one of the most confused of all existing cannabis seeds strains because there is no one who can take entire credit for its creation. Northern Lights was developed as an indoor cannabisseed strain in the late 1970s near Seattle in Washington, although the genetics involved in the cross were known to have come from California - the original home of a great many of the most famous cannabis seeds strains. It was initially a stabilised cannabis sativa strain crossed with an Afghani indica hybrid.

Northern Lights travelled to Holland as a clone where it was introduced to the commercial cannabis seed market in 1985 by The Seed Bank.

Because it arrived as a clone it could not be inbred for stability and cannabis seed production, therefore Skunk No 1 and Original Haze were used to produce seeds off it so it could be used as a parent plant.

Northern Lights distinctly shows its Afghani indica genetic background; it is a small plant that produces, big highly resinous flowers. Although it was initially developed for indoor growers excellent results have been produced outside.Northern Lights has a sweet resinous taste and produces a physical comfortable but lazy feeling, known to some as ‘couch lock’.

 

[Guest]

I'm positive there used to be a version of Northern Lights that was a Thai x Lebanese Hash Plant. Wish I could remember which sead catalogue it was in.

 

[gooboo]

I've heard before that Northern Lights #5 is (Haze X Afghani) X Afghani X Afghani and that NL#1 or #2 (I don't remember which) is one less backcross to Afghani than #5, so that would make it (Haze X Afghani) X Afghani. Hope that helps

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I heard...[guess Ed R book years ago...] that NL was

From Seattle

Bred for indoors, possibly "for" shelf gardening under Flourescents, as such, known to do well under low light levels.

#1 was the standard NL
#2 was with a little extra flavour - DP's Oasis is meant to be this, a friend grew it for many years.
#5 was the inbred potency monster used and kept solely by breeders. Contradicting myself [to save you chaps the time...] I am the happy owner of a pack of BCSC NL#5 seeds, looking forward to trying them out, may even keep some male pollen if they are what I am hoping they are....

Pure versions, IMO, are very Indica dominated, and that NL is not the strongest cloner around.

 

[bigherb]

i thought northern lights 1 was the special type .i know of 2 n 5 also ive heard of 6 from tri tech .is this the 4 sister clone .ive never heard of a nl 9.the cannabible says nl.5 is pure northern lights male with nl 75 percent /thai 25 percent female.

british hempire
the nl. thai /leb sounds ill hope you find the seed catalouge .

 

[ninjashoes]

What about the story of an indian growing it on an island? I think Jeorge Cervantes said it in a high times article. Supposebly the indian named his seeds 1-5 and 5 was the best. This is probably the least believable story in this thread so far but who knows.

 

[ndnguy]

So this pack of NL#9 from Sag. is what ?? A hybrid with what in it exactly,or close to.lol

 

[Guest]

Good question.

 

[ethereal]

nl is i33t yo....

 

[Resingrower]

Back in 92 I recieved a cutting of NL that an old timer claimed was from the original Sensi seeds release the year after it won the cup in the 80's. Some of the best breeding material ever is contained in the NL lines ...I hope we can decipher this strains true origins. Neville claimed that the haze and the NL were the most special genetics he ever worked with... you cant argue with that.

 

[wicked gh0st]

THE BCSC NL#5 IS A SENSI SEEDS NL INBREED IM SURE OF IT THE ONLY PPLS THAT WOULD HAVE THE NL#5 WOULD BE SENSI SEEDS AND MRNICE SEEDS