Northern Lights (cannabis)

File:Northern-lights-flowering.jpg

Northern Lights in flower

Northern Lights is a Cannabis indica-dominant strain. It's one of the most potent and highest yielding strains of Cannabis indica. A petite plant averaging between 4 and 5 feet, NL has dense, resin-rich flowers, but interesting the leave take on a more sativa (long & thinner) shape. The aroma is pungently sweet and the taste is a flavorful mixture of earth, sweet and spicy. Northern Lights’ fame extends to the harvest festivals where it claimed the overall High Times Cannabis Cup win in 1990, and the Cup’s award for the pure Indica category in 1988-89.

Subset strains

• Early Pearl/Skunk #1 x Northern Lights #5/Haze - High Times Cannabis Cup (1989)
• Haze x Northern Lights #5 - High Times Cannabis Cup (1993)
• Northern Lights #5 - High Times Cannabis Cup (1990)
  • Jack Herer is a cross between Skunk #1, Haze, and Northern Lights #5.
• Northern Lights #12 Skunk
• Northern Lights x Big Bud - A stable hybrid which exhibits the potency and high of original Northern lights with the heavy cropping genetics of the big bud, flowering in 8 weeks, 8.5 for a deeper couch lock, a single plant under 250w HPS sodium and a drip feed can produce well above 1 Gram / Watt (producer states 600g / M2) at 18%+ THC (CBD levels untested), grows 10-15% taller than the original NL.

Development

According to some sources, like the Seedsman seedbank (see External Links below), the Northern Lights strain was originally bred by a person known as “The Indian” on an island near Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Eleven plants were labeled Northern Lights #1 through Northern Lights #11. Northern Lights #5 was said to have had the best traits. Northern Lights #1 was similarly praised.

Northern Lights, primarily an indica variety, is renowned for its ability to be cloned and grown very easily. The strain's reputation also comes from the fact that it has won competitions such as the Cannabis Cup. The #5 strain was first entered into competition in 1989 when several seeds were mailed from the U.S. to Amsterdam. The strain quickly dominated the Cannabis Cup, winning in 1989, 1998, and again in 2009.

Impact

Northern Lights has received much attention in the scientific community, as it is often the subject of experiments testing the viability of medicinal marijuana. The hybridization of Cannabis is also notable in the botany community as Northern Lights in particular has been studied for its female and male genetic characteristics.

External links

• The Origins of Northern Lights
• Northern Lights Marijuana Strain Info
• Marijuana Horticulture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible
• Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
• BioSource Hemp 2000
• Encyclopedia of Clinical Toxicology
• The Medicinal Uses of Cannabis and Cannabinoids