The History of Northern Lights

Paul-n-Chukka said:

Facts are cool. But speculation has no place in history. My biggest beef is with writers trying to create cannabis icons. High times, skunk, grow mags... Are all for greenhorn greenthumbs.

Such speculations as... ' For a long time the true story about the origin of Northern Lights was never discussed within the growing community because we all knew that we were being hunted down mercilessly in the expanding "war on drugs"'.'

Any "growing community" references are small-minded BS.
"We all knew", haha there it is again.
Communities exist but they are not tied together into one happy family.

All growers are not connected within a single entity. So maybe you talked to the people you knew who didn't tell you what they knew.
But who cares unless you read pot magazines.

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MickeyBlanco said:

Does anybody know what happened to Neville's Northern Lights number five that he kept at his castle? The stories I heard by people who were in Amsterdam during the '90s said that Neville had the best Northern Lights five that he kept at his castle. Or was that cut just another casualty of War?

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jim dankness said:
i'm a bit confused here: are you talking about the Sensi Seed Club (SSC)-- run by Dronkers et al-- or the Super Sativa Seed Club (SSSC), run by "Pim and Kees"?

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zigzag said:
Archivist you appear to be the man with the answers, so what is the version that sensi sells and has it been "reworked" since back in the day ?

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Charles U Farley said:

This is all from a cut and past MS Word doc that will probably not format well but I'll html highlight who said what. Some may be duplicates because they came from 4 or 5 hd images and trying to find this shit, cut and paste it to save and then re-compile in in a readable format and chronicalocal fashion takes more time than I'm willing to do right now.

If you are really into NL and want to know more about it without a bunch of marketing bullshit and hype trying to get you to buy something, then read on and then you can draw your own conclusions, as I have:

NL Seattle Greg Posted

Aloha, The 11 packets of seed Nevil received were graded the #1 ,2, 3, were 100% indica, #5 the clone I traded Herbie Nelson for was 50% Afghani & 50% Hawaiian sativa. The others #6-#11 were crosses with Columbian, Thai, and Mexican Sativas. Nevil then sold out to Ben, became partners with Arjan, and then hooked up with the Mr. Nice Crew

Aloha, I agree 100% the kristilon brown + calcium nitrate is a good combination. Here in the USA I use JR Peters who has a 16-4-17 that has it all in one bag.(N,P,K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, B, Zn,Cu, Mo)

Aloha, Steve Murphy owned The Indoor Sun Shoppe in Seattle. NL #5 was a F1 hybrid in 1982.

Aloha, We use research like The Plant Analysis Handbook by Dr. Harry Mills, Dr.J. Benton Jones Jr.,Dr. Allen V. Barker they have the numbers for hundreds of different crops.

Aloha, What is the source the peters excel range??? The product is made in in the USA in Pennsylvania and they have been in business a long time.

Aloha, Don (aka the Indian) was from the Queets Tribe in Washington State who got injured on the job and needed a way to supplement his income. We set him up with lights substrate and strains and he worked for several years until his Son got out of the Army. Our relationship soured when Nevil tried the backdoor direct bypass me so all seeds to The Netherlands were halted for 30 years now. I sent bag-weed seed and kept the good strains in Seattle.

Aloha, Jorge & Sam like to talk too much about things they know nothing about. Sams ICMJ ? I lasted less than 24 hrs and got the forever boot. NL strains did not come from California period they brought nothing of value to Seattle. going to The Netherlands Nevil had Sams Skunk # 1, California Orange and Rob's Early Pearl along with the Afgani he collected with Clyde from LA on the trip to Kandahar when Clyde ODed on heroin. We were Vietnam Combat Veterans needing ptsd meds (sleep matters) so the focus was NL 1 to 5 with a beat this breeding program. The only strain of any interest was the Orange that was lost due to police raids

Aloha, Why would i have Nevil's strain I have been breeding since 1970 and he got NL from me? I sent seed to Sensi for free to Kees to promote competition

Aloha, The Northern Lights Crew was very small because of intense police pressure. It was all people from the Bellingham, Seattle, Olympia, and Portland area. And we were real wary of anyone who was not known. Paranoia ruled for good reasons as Nevil and Marc Emory found out.

Aloha, With the pure strain wide leaved short Afghan strains in Seattle pure strain seed started showing up in the mid 1970s the same time we were working out the details for HID lighting indoors. Nevil had the one he collected and the NL 1 & 2 from Seattle. Ask Nevil I have no clue what he did and it is real hard to speculate after all these years.

Aloha, Here is the way I traded for the original NL #5. After I was gifted 4 wide leaved pure afghani seeds I went to seed and started the Luther Burbank selection process to get superior female cuttings. I traded with my friend Herbie my pure strains and was blessed with one very nice mama that I took to seed and named #5. Having bud ,seed and cuttings of #5 was also nice! & then came Nevil and getting the seed for the medicine to my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and others who needed it. Herbie and i never went into detail and he said indica x hawaiian. Looking at the hybrid vigor it was a nice mix.

Aloha, Due to intense police pressure the NL #5 was lost after it had been shipped to the Netherlands to Nevil. Thanks to Ben, Nevil, Arjan, and Shantibaba this genetic base will be around for a long time. Here in Hawai'i i grow seed 95% of the time in my work

Aloha, Cannabis breeders are a small group of people who should use the energy we are gifted to work in harmony. We are group that has accomplished major advances and I like the brothers concept as opposed to the dog eat dog competition game.

Aloha, I breed seed for many years now and seed i get great results from 100% of the time when it hits the average joes & janes hands there can be problems without end. not the seeds problem it's the grower who is the problem 95% of the time. most do not have a clue how to water so they try to grow in swamp conditions and then blame the seed.

Aloha, The NL #5 seed I sent to Nevil was a cross. The cutting he was sent was the original from Herbie.

Aloha, The 11 strains were graded by height and flavor for indoor growing. The #1 was a short phenotype pure Indica from Afghaniatan as was #2,3, & 4. #5 to #11 was the Hybrids with the narrow leaved strains we worked with.

Aloha & Sam sounds like he is getting bored with it all? I do not have that problem at NL as every batch of seed brings something new and interesting. My Guru was Luther Burbank and with my Marine mentality I will be breeding to make things a little better until the day I die. Breeders Forever & Forever Breeders.

Aloha & George & Sam are incorrect. NL had nothing to do with California. And the Indian (Don Downes) was supplied with genetics by me including the NL#5 and the seed I propagated from the 4 seeds from Murphy.

All of these are from here: https://mrnice.nl/forum/threads/northern-lights-1-vs-northern-lights-5.12611/page-2

Aloha,

The base plants for the entire Seattle Northern Lights strains 1 to 10 was a batch of seed sent from Afghanistan that ended up in Herbie's employers hands who just happened to be an old friend from High School so I was able to get four seeds. Then I started doing seed crops of the pure Indica and crossing it with other strains from Nepal, Mexico, and Columbia.

I had clones and seed and NL#5 was Hawaiian x Steve Murphy's Afghani Strain that is what I sent to Nevil. Steve Murphy owned The Indoor Sun Shoppe in Seattle. NL #5 was a F1 hybrid in 1982.


Northern lights # 1 was Nevils Afghani crossed with the Seattle Afghan strain form Steve Murphy.


I have been breeding since 1970 and he got NL from me. I sent seed to Ben and Kees at Sensi too for giving me the nutrient formula for Grodan and Seattle water.


The 11 strains were graded by height and flavor for indoor growing. The #1 was a short phenotype pure Indica from Afghanistan as was #2,3, & 4. #5 to #11 were the Hybrids with the narrow leaved strains we worked with.


The 11 packets of seed Nevil received were graded the #1 ,2, 3, were 100% indica, #5 the clone I traded Herbie Nelson for was 50% Afghani & 50% Hawaiian sativa. The others #6-#11 were crosses with Columbian, Thai, and Mexican Sativas. Nevil then sold out to Ben, became partners with Arjan, and then hooked up with the Mr. Nice Crew.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=7172832&postcount=69

http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/6-breeders-support-information/12611-northern-lights-1-vs-northern-lights-5-a-6.html

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Charles U Farley said:

From a breeding perspective, if all the original parents and gene-stock are still available (as they are at Sensi Seeds), there's no reason to rework strains.
With the original parents, the time-tested strain can always be made to the original standard. Any reworking or re-breeding that produces new results might as well be released as a new strain.

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Charles U Farley said:

Nevil said:

When I first got the NL varieties, there were 8 types, 1-8.

They came with descriptions, which I published in my catalogue. These descriptions may not correlate with what later developed. The original intention was to purchase seeds from the US NL growers. It didn't work out and supply dried up. I kept the lines separate and inbred them. NL1 and NL2 stabilised into distinct types and NL5 only produced one unique individual.

NL1 was a full blood Afghan indica. One thick main stem, dark green leaves, modest yield with nuggety buds, a little coarse with good resin production, which when ripe went golden. The high was narcotic. The seeds ranged from tiny to massive. I used to love the big ones. Large fat heavily and darkly mottled seeds. Selecting for these seeds made this Afghan even coarser. It was fun to show people these seeds.

The best line of NL1 actually came from the smaller seeded types, better high and bud structure.

There weren't many pure indica lines around in those days. Big Bud, Hash Plant and G13 were pure indicas in my estimation, but were cuttings. NL1 was the only good pure Afghani male line I had.( there was Sams Afghani#1, but that was toxic in a bad way) The NL2 was a Kush.

I put the NL1 out there as a pure strain. I wasn't popular. People would tell me, "give me the pure strains", but if it cost them 10% of their yield they would complain, well try 50%.

The pure indica hybrids were more popular. NL1 x HP and NL1 x G13 were the best. At least people could use the word pure (very popular). But they were good!



I expect that a lot of people holding what they believe to be pure indicas today, would find, if the truth be known, that the sire line traces back to NL1.

http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/4-talk-s...-nevil-afghani-kush-lines-other-grail-11.html

That's right OS. I did go to the States later and pick up the original U.S. NL5 mother and it was as it was described to me, part Thai. But my NL5 didn't seem to have any Thai influence. I spent a lot of time analysing the NL lines, in particular NL5.



I only saw evidence of two indica male lines in the NL series and that was NL1 and NL2. My best bet was that NL5 was a combination of NL1 male line and US NL5 female. I guessed that US5 was 50% NL2. Northern Lights 2x5 was the best that I could do staying within the line (pure NL).



Northern Lights changed the face of cannabis genetics (and many a smoker), but it was mostly through NL5. You've got to marvel at fate for dropping that one extreme plant into the lap of a budding seed breeder.

http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/4-talk-s...-nevil-afghani-kush-lines-other-grail-11.html



Neville's story:



https://overgrow.com/t/80s-story-of-nevils-the-seed-bank/1609







Shantibaba says:



Hi All



Well i was going through the fridges over Xmas with my daughter and we found 2 large bags with all Nevil old breeding stock from 1996, 1998 and 2001...all labelled well and withNL1. NL2, NL5 seed crosses in abundance as well as G13 crosses and so many others....so it seems all has been vacuumed sealed and remained untouched for quite some years...but selected a bunch of seed stock to try and get going in Feb 2021....a time to bring back the corner store products. Try to get a bunch of the old potent Hash plant seeds working and will post photos of all the others we put in heating mat germinating tables....should bring back some memories for those old enough...and time to give a tribute to Nevil and his genetic work and seed collection obviously with a Shantibaba selection ...but it is the best we can offer for now!



Hope the new year brings good spirits and good health to you all....Sb



https://mrnice.nl/forum/threads/nl-2.15823/page-2



proof is in the seed you grow



Cannabis Seed companies will need to stop all this idle myth spreading and abide by a set series of regulatory tests to prove what they say. Cannabinoid tests of mother plants do not indicate what offspring will be like since only 50% of the genetic material is coming from...so please educate yourselves by growing out seeds and being honest to whether it is a keeper for you or not...ultimately this is the test of a plant at present! P

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Charles U Farley said:

If you've suffered through all these posts, you understand the passion of NL. I purposely put that info in separate posts because it was from those who were actually there and did the work. Here what I believe:

NL Seattle Gregg created and developed Northern Lights because he needed it for PTSD

Nevil worked with all the numbers of NL, standardized and homogenized the varieties, recognized the ones that would be most successful commercially. Got busted and sold all his interest in cannabis seeds to Ben Dronkers who created Sensi.

Someone at Sensi decided NL1 should be marketed as NL but more insightful and creative individuals worked #2 and #5, homogenized and standardized it and through the cumulative effort of _all_ these individuals, created a fucking masterpiece of cannabis.

What makes NL _so_ special certainly isn't "bag appeal", it has very little of the smell component that is very popular now. It's doesn't look like all these frosty coated genetic/chemically engineered monstrosities created by colchicine, STS or whatever other bullshit chemical someone can try to make the plant look good but doesn't do a fucking thing for the _high_ you get consuming it.

Here's what makes it special to me and why I'm absolutely positive why NL Seattle Greg created it:

You can consume it and go about your normal daily activities in life and deal with shit.

For me, I can consume NL and read a book, lift weights, do intricate and complicated activities yet mentally focus... or just hang out with family and watch TV. There's no "couch lock", "paranoia",etc.

It is well balanced cannabis and if you live a well balance life, it's all the cannabis you will _ever_ need.

To finish this marathon up and this will be the subject of my next post, why would NL Seattle Greg, who posted this 7 years ago:

View attachment 5193111

need the guy from Authenitic Genetics to:

"... I could do some germination testing and give him feedback on the viability of the genetics after all those years in storage."

My Bullshit Detector is pegged in the red so unless NL Seattle Greg posts on his Facebook page, "Chuck you're an asshole, I'm making money off this guy because I don't want to put up with the bullshit of inexperienced growers, shut the fuckup."... I'm _not_ going to go away.

BTW, this NL Seattle Greg's _real_ NL1 that he developed seven years ago, and that's Girl Scout Cookies next to it, on the right. Had to edit this so no confusion.

NL Seattle Greg, if you ever read this, _so_ sorry for posting this, it's _your_ pic not mine. Because of the "old school" internet types I know, I can absolutely fucking guarantee that no GPS or other identifying info can be obtained from this photo. I personally obscured your face but left the boonie, I know you are a proud Marine. Two of our kids served, one just retired from the AF as as Senior Master Sargent. I did not serve but I understand your struggles with PTSD. Thank you for everything you've done.

Doing this research fucked my Labor Day weekend, I'm tore down so I'm not even going to proofread this. Typos will survive the Edit window, Trolls, pecker gnats and gimps (Pulp Fiction reference) have at it with your laughing faces and snarky comments, as you've experience, I know how to deal with your types,wait tillmy post to the numbers nym.

Anyway, this is how I'll end it:

I can't find a video that will play here on RIU because of copyright issues but Google... Feelin Good by Nina Simone, so you'll know what's supposed to be here.

Similar posters to me in the Music sub, and you know who you are you twisted, old fucks , will absolutely _love_ this.

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Charles U Farley said:

If you've suffered through all these posts, you understand the passion of NL. I purposely put that info in separate posts because it was from those who were actually there and did the work. Here what I believe:

NL Seattle Gregg created and developed Northern Lights because he needed it for PTSD

Nevil worked with all the numbers of NL, standardized and homogenized the varieties, recognized the ones that would be most successful commercially. Got busted and sold all his interest in cannabis seeds to Ben Dronkers who created Sensi.

Someone at Sensi decided NL1 should be marketed as NL but more insightful and creative individuals worked #2 and #5, homogenized and standardized it and through the cumulative effort of _all_ these individuals, created a fucking masterpiece of cannabis.

What makes NL _so_ special certainly isn't "bag appeal", it has very little of the smell component that is very popular now. It's doesn't look like all these frosty coated genetic/chemically engineered monstrosities created by colchicine, STS or whatever other bullshit chemical someone can try to make the plant look good but doesn't do a fucking thing for the _high_ you get consuming it.

Here's what makes it special to me and why I'm absolutely positive why NL Seattle Greg created it:

You can consume it and go about your normal daily activities in life and deal with shit.

For me, I can consume NL and read a book, lift weights, do intricate and complicated activities yet mentally focus... or just hang out with family and watch TV. There's no "couch lock", "paranoia",etc.

It is well balanced cannabis and if you live a well balance life, it's all the cannabis you will _ever_ need.

To finish this marathon up and this will be the subject of my next post, why would NL Seattle Greg, who posted this 7 years ago:

View attachment 5193111

need the guy from Authenitic Genetics to:

"... I could do some germination testing and give him feedback on the viability of the genetics after all those years in storage."

My Bullshit Detector is pegged in the red so unless NL Seattle Greg posts on his Facebook page, "Chuck you're an asshole, I'm making money off this guy because I don't want to put up with the bullshit of inexperienced growers, shut the fuckup."... I'm _not_ going to go away.

BTW, this NL Seattle Greg's _real_ NL1 that he developed seven years ago, and that's Girl Scout Cookies next to it, on the right. Had to edit this so no confusion.

NL Seattle Greg, if you ever read this, _so_ sorry for posting this, it's _your_ pic not mine. Because of the "old school" internet types I know, I can absolutely fucking guarantee that no GPS or other identifying info can be obtained from this photo. I personally obscured your face but left the boonie, I know you are a proud Marine. Two of our kids served, one just retired from the AF as as Senior Master Sargent. I did not serve but I understand your struggles with PTSD. Thank you for everything you've done.

Doing this research fucked my Labor Day weekend, I'm tore down so I'm not even going to proofread this. Typos will survive the Edit window, Trolls, pecker gnats and gimps (Pulp Fiction reference) have at it with your laughing faces and snarky comments, as you've experience, I know how to deal with your types,wait tillmy post to the numbers nym.

Anyway, this is how I'll end it:

I can't find a video that will play here on RIU because of copyright issues but Google... Feelin Good by Nina Simone, so you'll know what's supposed to be here.

Similar posters to me in the Music sub, and you know who you are you twisted, old fucks , will absolutely _love_ this.

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Week4@inCharge said:

I like this one....

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Charles U Farley said:

Thank you!!!!!!

I'm not responding to you W4.

I'm well aware of the podcast, doesn't change my opinion. Until there's a post on NL Seattle Greg's site, I stand by what Shanti said, proof is in the seed you grow. Look at NL Seattle Greg's NL1 and then at AG's?

Which plant would you rather purchase seeds from?

In case anyone can't tell from my posting history, which is easily viewed by clicking on Barney, I have a hard on for anyone, especially _Americans_ (because our British Columbia brothers and sisters saved our ass in the late 90's) who try to profit from other people who actually did the work to create legendary, foundational cannabis. BTW, I was born, raised, and will die in the S.E. United States... although I'm not sure we'll ever be united again.

Last post for a while, I'm tired W4ITMFIC (that would be shorthand for "week four I'm the motherfucker in charge) but keep on digging and questoni authority!

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Spindle818 said:

Have you listened to any podcasts that Seattle Greg has participated on? He clears a lot of this up. And he does state that he gave original seeds to Todd of AG as well as Matt Riot who shared them with Nspecta

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Charles U Farley said:

This is how us dinosaurs used to have to get seeds from Amsterdam:

Jock Shipping To U.S

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Spindle818 said:

Have you listened to any podcasts that Seattle Greg has participated on? He clears a lot of this up. And he does state that he gave original seeds to Todd of AG as well as Matt Riot who shared them with Nspecta

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