Nirvana Northern Lights - first grow from about 14 years ago

[Pazzo]

So as the title sais these pics are from my first grow ever when I was about 16… I remember purchasing everything I needed including seeds for under $500 and I’ve never looked back. These pics are even from my first OG grow journal I just happened to save before the site went down.

I grew up and lived in Alaska for a while so naturally I always wanted to grow “Northern Lights” lol… even to this day it’s one of my favorite strains (have yet to buy dispensary NL I like tho which is odd to me). I always described NLs flavor/smell as a berry you’ve never had before, that is if you get the right pheno of course… I’ve grown NL 3 times since and I’ve yet to get a pheno as good as the one in the first pic below…

[ryasco]

Those are some beautiful buds. Huge crystaly bud shots are always appreciated!

[GrowerGoneWild]

Nice, Its been awhile since I popped any NL. I just did a grow of NL Special, its a chunky and hungry phenotype. We like to call her “Miss Piggy” Nice flowers, just not as strong as other strains I have in my nursery.

I just picked up Blue Lights, NL x Blueberry for a client. I think it will be a good one. NL has a nice even high about it, and should help out the blueberry, I’ve had some issues in the past with blueberry, just needs more vigor.

[oranje]

Lovely plant for a punk-ass teenager Northern Lights is very much on my grow list – I don’t think I’ve smoked any since the 90s, but it was absolutely a favorite strain for a number of years. Looks like the Nirvana seeds aren’t too shabby, maybe I’ll give them a shot.

[HydroPower]

For 16-years old … I’m blown away

[anon6184023]

Agreed with hydropower

Can I ask was the seed from Gypsy Nirvana or Nirvana ?

Would like to see what you can do now

[GrowerGoneWild]

@HydroPower

For 16-years old … I’m blown away

Yup, he did good, I remember my first grow when I was in my teens. Failure. then again, there was no www and I was trying to grow bagseed.

Im kinda nostalgic about all of this, I had a few NL phenotypes, Marc Emery’s seeds and Gypsy Nirvanas NL. I think the NL #5 was the one everybody was chasing. Now fast forward to 2017 where NL does make it into breeding projects to this day.

[MadScientist]

The first sensi weed i ever smoked was northern lights and that could have been around 20 years ago maybe…

[Baudelaire]

NL#5 was a clone only, so if you grew from seed it was probably crossed with skunk 1 or an afghani. Shantibaba still breeds with NL5,and has three straight crosses to the original clone available. Probably the closest to what Nirvana was offering in the 90s is NL5xSkunk: http://bit.ly/2tceEYM

Shanti also offers a NL5xAfghani for couch-lovers, and NL5 x Haze for the psychonauts…

Before Cinderella came out, if you wanted that 1970s Columbian highland sativa stone at home, NL5 x Haze, and to a lesser extent Jack Herer, were your choices.

NL#5 x Haze along a back fence somewhere, circa 1996

-b420

[anon6184023]

Are those plants you speak of that Scott has anything to do with Nevilles ?

NL5 x Haze

Very remininscent of the NLX I used to work with circa 1998 that was a clone only available widely in Holland at the time.

They are about 21 days into 12/12 in that pic from memeory.

[Baudelaire]

@MadTruka if you are referring to the Haze father it is one and the same. Shanti took over for Nevil when he fled to AUS, and took all his mother stock.

Now, Shanti (Scott as MT call him) offers an Ortega line that he sources back to Maple Leaf Wilson of Oakland, CA (through Red at Legends) but calls it a selection of NL #5 and NL #1. Which leaves me scratching my head as I always thought NL and Ortega to be two separate lines of afi. If that’s the case, I also have NL, as Red generously gifted me a couple of packs of Ortega (a couple of different lines) when he launched Legends that have been on ice ever since. Should probably check those out.

@Pazzo one of the recent grow reports on Ortega at Mr. Nice mentions the berry flavor and smell profile…http://bit.ly/2tbWoyy

-b420

[anon6184023]

@Baudelaire

http://bit.ly/2tbWoyy

It sounds very similar if not the same. I could never get s 100% staright answer about its heritage the NLX, but you have just jogged my memeory there when mentioning Maple Leaf.

I think they liked to create confusion becuase of all the competition, bickering and in fighting that went on back in those days. But yes it was deffinately NL#1 or NL#5 but I will never know which is the 100% truth of the matter.

It was a beutifull smoke that went down like a velvety silky smooth and left you wanting more, but if you didnt wait a few minutes and became greedy you soon knew about it. Berrys with a sugary sweetness, no harshness, Oh I miss that girl. I think NL#5 went into the making of Nevilles haze if I’m not mistaken.

Im gonna have to apply for a visa, see if they will allow me a holiday in the USA.

[Pazzo]

Haha thanks guys. I remember researching and reading about growing for a solid 6 months before I started buying stuff… that’s one thing I’ve noticed with some people is they don’t learn enough before trying and they pay for it later almost every time…

The 2nd strain I ever grew was from a guy called “Maliboo” I think his name was from the original OG site (anyone remember him?) he created the C13 cabinet thread which I copied pretty much to a T and he actually made some seeds that were NL5 x G13 and it was prolly one of the strongest strains I ever grew and I loved it… wish I was able to get more seeds from him at the time…

[Pazzo]

Haha wow just found a thread where someone grew the NL5 x G13 from Maliboo I mentioned before… I forgot he named it Stardust 13 lol

http://boards.cannabis.com/threads/my-c13-cab.6253/page-2

[Pazzo]

I bought those seeds from Dr. Chronic’s website and it was just Nirvana as far as I know… I’ve tried Paradise seeds NL too and it was ok, I found a decent pheno but not nearly as good as Nirvanas in my experience. Sometimes cheap seeds are the way to go, especially if you are able to make your own seeds with them cause then you can really try and find that perfect pheno…

[GrowerGoneWild]

Hah, I still have a c13 style cab… Its all disassembled and in the garage… but still…

[Muleskinner]

Hah, I still have a c13 style cab… Its all disassembled and in the garage… but still…

Oh yeah, I remember my C13 well - I assembled it in my apartment’s attic and it was too big to remove - I’m sure it’s still there, I just taped cardboard over the ventilation holes when I left.

I love Northern Lights, one of my favorite strains, for some reason it works well on my asthma, I suspect it’s because of the limonene terpene in addition to the cannibinoids. some of the plants smell like pine trees and that’s the limonene.

I’ve been growing NL#5 originally from Brother Grimm “Aurora Borealis” it’s excellent. The flowers have very resinous bud leaves, usually I can’t cut them all off and the dried buds come out like little pinecones. I gave a good male to a friend and he crossed it to some NL#3 clone that’s been going around for years, I need to try those seeds soon!

Also have crosses with Blueberry, Sensi Star, Hurkle, Orange Hill Special, and others, it usually improves the quality as it’s hybridized with other indicas.

[Calyxander]

I also grew out several packs of Nirvana’s
NL “pure indica” version of Northern Lights many years ago.
Well, it was not the most stable strain, as some of the plants phenos stretched like crazy and were tall and lanky, very sativa like. However, the small Christmas tree shaped pheno was absolutely fantastic NL.
One of my faves!

I have some pics somewhere???

ETA
Pics of Nirvana’s NL

[Baltimore]

How long did it take to finish Nirvana"s Northern Light? I’m growing a monster indoors right now. Thanks any tips/help would be great. Thanks.
-J

[Calyxander]

@Baltimore I last grew Nirvana’s NL back in ‘03, and If I recall, it ran about 9 weeks or so.
I have heard that the present day Nirvana NL is not the same, but I really enjoyed it back then.
Average feeder, easy.
I thought it was very stony and tasty.

Best of luck.