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The Real History Of Northern Lights, Written By The Guys Who Did It

Sanjuro

Active member
Let me follow up with some visual aids. No doubt everyone would agree this _isn't_ a Type I/Sativa leaf :):

View attachment 19060101

Please note the serrations on this leaf and I think everyone would agree the structure is a "wee bit" different :eek::

View attachment 19060102

This is the first Type I/Sativa pheno I fertilized, don't have a pic of the staminant plant:

View attachment 19060103

Which led to this:

View attachment 19060104

I _always_ have to explain this next pic, for those dickheads who diagnose a plant without knowing the _environment_.it was in. In this instance, the tent temp was 40 degrees F and the RH was 90+%:

View attachment 19060106

Working with this side of the pheno led to my understanding that low _odor_ was dominant trait of this side of the mix, as it balanced the strong odor of the Type II/Indica. My _guess_ is this is what NL Seattle Greg used to balance out the stink of Steve Murphy's "stinky Indica".

The Type I/Sativa side of things has evolved into this, taken today:

View attachment 19060108

But guess what? This shit _smells_ and I don't know how that evolved?!?!?!?

To answer part of your question, suffice it to say the Type I/Sativa has been the most variable. Afaic, working that side was worth it 😉:

View attachment 19060109

I'll get into the Type II/Indica side of things, which has been my favorite, if you're still interested:

View attachment 19060110
You have interesting NL project going on man

How do you do your seed projects with it?

Do you use some kind of open pollination or mixed pollen from many males? or do you find something that you like and use only those?

Do you keep the sativa leaning seed lines separated or is it all mixed together?

Maybe you talked about it all in the thread but i didn't go through all the posts



I wanted to do similar thing with the mns ortega. To find some nice old heirlooms and create separate lines but the afgahni side of that line was very disappointing for me. i was hoping to find better quality and so i threw away most of them without growing them a second time

I still have three ortega females going, i’m thinking of getting rid of the only afghan leaning i kept cause it gives me allergic reactions (hands start itching like hell when i handle it and it worsens my atopic skin problems, makes my allergy towards cats much worse too) and i have some pollen in the freezer from a pink stemmed sativa leaning plant. apparently the mexican in the nl5 hawaiian. I should have kept the male longer but i was more into the afghani side of the line



Nice project keep it going
 

Sanjuro

Active member
May I ask what any of you mns cats think of Ortega. ( The strain not the man)?
MNS Ortega, nl5 x nl1

Like i wrote in my earlier post i wasn’t very impressed with most of the plants i found. i think i got about 75 seedlings out of 98 seeds. i culled a lot of plants w/o flowering them because of low veg resin and most of the plants i bloomed had sandy small resin heads and average potency. Few stronger ones but a lot of sub par stuff.

I didn’t find all the types people were showing at MNS forum before they updated the site and alot of photos got lost but i saw quite a bit still and most of what i saw was not on my good-level. sub par especially many of the different afghani types

Not much pine in the line, at least not on the plants i got, one of two plants had mild pine juniper notes but you couldn’t detect it on dried flowers at all basically. many growers are reporting similar findings

So you have to have some luck on your side to find gems in that line in a pack or two

Get them at the auction to save some money if you want to try the line.I wouldn’t buy too many packs for the regular price you see at seed shops, but that’s just me, others may feel differently. i think all my ortega packs cost me under 25 euros/dollars a piece
 
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CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
The Type II/Indica variant of NL has been my most favorite to both grow and consume but there are definitely drawbacks. This side of the NL ancestry, at least for me in the basement environment, is _very_ prone to botrytis. Never had a problem in the upstairs closet because I could more or less control the temp/humidity.

That's not the case in the basement tents.

When you have leaves this size blocking airflow, it's not difficult to understand why botrytis might be a problem :eek::

1000010842.jpg


Through much trial and error, my solution was a solution of khco3, canola oil and Dawn soap. Through successive generations, one thing happened to simple astound me. Colored buds!

I must add my standard disclaimer here, regardless of the Boomer bullshit with Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, etc., it has been _my_ experience, through literally fucking decades of cannabis consumption, that that color has absolutely _nothing_ whatsoever to do with potency.

But damn it sure does look nice and has what dealers call, "bag appeal" . ;)

Almost every variation of cannabis I've grown, starting with the Coptics hybrids back in the 70's up until I reverse engineered NL, has been green/gold/brown. Here are some of the color variations I've had since then:

old_lady_black_juju (1).jpg


orange_bud_closeup.jpg


black_winter_buds.jpg


This one has always been my favorite pic:

image-09.jpg


And that wasn't even the main cola. Here's the entire plant and I'm pretty sure I've never posted this one:

typeII_purp_plant.jpg


Where did the _color_ come from? I'll give you a hint, I think it was Nevil and _not_ NLSG or Steve Murphy's _work_ that resulted in this color. I have fucking _never_ seen a pic of a _verifiable_ Sensi NL that had this much color. o_O

Here's the staminate that produced this:

Type II Staminant.jpg


If you are wondering why the plant looks so _old_, that'll be a topic for another post.😉
 
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CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
When you say you reversed engineered you mean you took the nl and bred separate lines that are all true to the 4 types of plants?
I didn't breed shit. I _worked_ the NL line for decades, paid attention/observed the phenos after F5 of Sensi's NL, that was in my possession.

There were _three_ types of plants, a Type I/Sativa, the Type II/Indica, and a Type IV Hybrid.

Read the beginning of the thread.

Again, I didn't do shit. I just _observed_ the plants and they did what they did... revert back to Mama and her Daddy's. ;)
 

JetLife175

Well-known member
Veteran
I didn't breed shit. I _worked_ the NL line for decades, paid attention/observed the phenos after F5 of Sensi's NL, that was in my possession.

There were _three_ types of plants, a Type I/Sativa, the Type II/Indica, and a Type IV Hybrid.

Read the beginning of the thread.

Again, I didn't do shit. I just _observed_ the plants and they did what they did... revert back to Mama and her Daddy's. ;)
So each of these types are isolated now or are you just observing the phenos in the NL seedling?
 

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
The Type II/Indica variant of NL has been my most favorite to both grow and consume but there are definitely drawbacks. This side of the NL ancestry, at least for me in the basement environment, is _very_ prone to botrytis. Never had a problem in the upstairs closet because I could more or less control the temp/humidity.

That's not the case in the basement tents.

When you have leaves this size blocking airflow, it's not difficult to understand why botrytis might be a problem :eek::

View attachment 19061289

Through much trial and error, my solution was a solution of khco3, canola oil and Dawn soap. Through successive generations, one thing happened to simple astound me. Colored buds!

I must add my standard disclaimer here, regardless of the Boomer bullshit with Acapulco Gold, Panama Red, etc., it has been _my_ experience, through literally fucking decades of cannabis consumption, that that color has absolutely _nothing_ whatsoever to do with potency.

But damn it sure does look nice and has what dealers call, "bag appeal" . ;)

Almost every variation of cannabis I've grown, starting with the Coptics hybrids back in the 70's up until I reverse engineered NL, has been green/gold/brown. Here are some of the color variations I've had since then:

View attachment 19061280

View attachment 19061281

View attachment 19061282

This one has always been my favorite pic:

View attachment 19061284

And that wasn't even the main cola. Here's the entire plant and I'm pretty sure I've never posted this one:

View attachment 19061286

Where did the _color_ come from? I'll give you a hint, I think it was Nevil and _not_ NLSG or Steve Murphy's _work_ that resulted in this color. I have fucking _never_ seen a pic of a _verifiable_ Sensi NL that had this much color. o_O

Here's the staminate that produced this:

View attachment 19061290

If you are wondering why the plant looks so _old_, that'll be a topic for another post.😉


Could you explain the type 1, type 2,.etc. some folks may benefit from learning about the different types.

That beautiful Fall colored girl looks real close to the NL5 I grew back in the mid 90's. 👍
 

CannaRed

Cannabinerd
I didn't breed shit. I _worked_ the NL line for decades, paid attention/observed the phenos after F5 of Sensi's NL, that was in my possession.

There were _three_ types of plants, a Type I/Sativa, the Type II/Indica, and a Type IV Hybrid.

Read the beginning of the thread.

Again, I didn't do shit. I just _observed_ the plants and they did what they did... revert back to Mama and her Daddy's. ;)
Ok, so reversed engineered means you grew these out and saw the different phenos? You haven't separated these into separate lines?
Just looking for clarification, thanks!
 

CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
Could you explain the type 1, type 2,.etc. some folks may benefit from learning about the different types.

That beautiful Fall colored girl looks real close to the NL5 I grew back in the mid 90's. 👍
I can't remember who originally came up the the 4 types/classifications that I use but it made perfect sense to me, so I just started using the Type designation.

Type I = Tall, thin plant and leaves, high THC, scant CBD, long flowering time, equatorial in origin. What most people consider a Sativa and, these days, NLD.

Type II = Short, squat plant and thick leaves, high THC, moderate to high CBD, short flowering time, Hindu Kush origin. What most people consider Indica or BLD now.

Type III = Tall, rangy plants with narrow leaves, low-absent THC, moderate CBD, worldwide origin. What most consider hemp, used to be used for making rope. I believe Autos would fall into this class as well but other than Nevil using them back in the day, I know almost nothing about Autos, so I'm not sure. I think it's called NLH or BLH now.

Type IV = A union/combination of characteristics from Types I and II, with varying sized, shaped plants and leaves. High THC, varying CBD, and known for the term "hybrid vigor", where the combo of plants is better growing, more intense and vigorous than either individual Type I or II. I'm not sure how RC Clarke acronyms a Hybrid? (Maybe VLD for variable leaf drug?) Origin stories about who first combined them are a dime a dozen, believe who you want. I know for a fact the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church in Jamaica did Type IV's in the 70s, cause I grew 'em. Here's the proof, and those aren't NLD plants native to Jamaica :eek::

first_growroom.jpg
 

CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
So each of these types are isolated now or are you just observing the phenos in the NL seedling?
Isolated each one, fairly reproducible but not homogenized or standardized as I would like. Still a lot of variability, especially on the Type I/Sativa side, since I haven't worked it as much. Took these pics today, here is a standard NL pheno that is still quite dominant in almost every seed run:

PXL_20240907_173138444.jpg


The buds on this Type IV and the Type II are prone to botrytis, so I've been working to combine the stretching/branching characteristics to produce smaller but _many_ more buds.

Here is the one Type IV/Hybrid that is almost _exactly_ what I've been working for the past couple of years:

PXL_20240907_173556060.jpg


Since this is pretty far off the OT of this thread, see here for more info if interested:

 
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