Northern Lights

1. Summary

Northern Lights is a numbered family of mostly Afghan-based indoor hybrids from the Seattle area, not one variety. The Dutch seed trade made it the archetypal indoor indica in the mid-1980s.¹² Contemporary print is the firmest evidence. In March 1987 High Times called it "State-of-the-art indoor indica. Originating out of the Pacific Northwest". It said NL #5 was available only as cuttings, and Nevil told the magazine "My number one seller is Northern Lights."¹ Breeder-circle testimony from Greg "Seattle Greg" McAllister and Nevil Schoenmakers (forum posts 2010–2021, read through a 2026 compilation) agrees on one point: Steve Murphy's Afghan seed line ("Murphy Stevens", Indoor Sun Shoppe, Seattle) is the foundation, with Greg receiving four seeds c.1979.³²⁴ Almost everything else is disputed: how many numbered lines existed (Nevil: "8 types, 1-8"; Greg: ten, eleven or "#2 through #12"), what NL #1 was, and what NL #5 was. Greg says NL #5 was a 1982 F1, Afghani × Hawaiian, from Herbie Nelson. Nevil says it was a "sport", "part Thai" as described to him, and that "I probably perpetuated the Thai/NL5 myth".³ The two also disagree on who supplied Nevil's NL #5 cutting. Northern Lights won the indica category of the first Cannabis Cup (judged January 1988),⁵ the Seed Bank swept the 1989 Cup with NL-based entries,⁶ and NL #5 is listed as the overall 1990 winner.⁷

2. Identity

• Names/aliases: Northern Lights (NL); NL #1, #2, #5 and other numbers; NL5x8; "Purest Indica" (name used for Murphy's foundation Afghan; disputed whether it was ever an NL line name).³⁸¹
• Type as reported: indica (Sensi: 90% indica);⁹ NL #5 described as more hybrid (Afghani × Hawaiian per Greg).³
• Era: Seattle late 1970s–1980s; Netherlands from c.1984–85; Sensi Seeds from 1991.⁴¹⁰
• Breeders/keepers: Steve Murphy (foundation Afghan), Greg McAllister (numbering; sent seed to Nevil), Herbie Nelson (Hawaiian; NL #5), "Don"/"The Indian" (NL #2); Nevil Schoenmakers (The Seed Bank, commercial seed).³²
• Propagation: numbered seed lines plus clone-only elite cuts (NL #5 was a cutting only in 1987).¹
• Region: Seattle/Puget Sound. A 1986 High Times grower called it "a mainstay variety in Vancouver, B.C.".¹¹

3. Genetics & lineage claims

3a. Foundation: Steve Murphy's Afghan ("Purest Indica"), four seeds to Greg c.1979

Confidence: well-supported (multiple breeder-circle and secondary accounts; details shift)

Beard Bros (2021) summarizes Greg's posts and podcast: "Steve Murphy's Afghan is the foundation of all the Northern Lights hybrids". On this account NL is "a set of hybrids" numbered by size and traits, "lowest numbers representing the most pure Afghan".² Greg's posts (as compiled) say he was "gifted 4 wide leaved pure afghani seeds" and later "the 4 seeds from Murphy". He admits (2021): "Where in Afghanistan they came from I do not know."³ McCormick (High Times 2023) and Seedfinder give the same story with the "Purest Indica" name, 1979.⁴⁸ Greg's own accounts vary on whether the seeds came from Murphy or via Herbie's employer.³

3b. Competing: Nevil's Mazar × Murphy's Afghan

Confidence: reported (single forum reply, 2026). Contradicted by Greg, who wrote in 2021 that the Mazar and Ruderalis "were just not what we were looking for".³

3c. How many lines?

Confidence: disputed

Nevil (2010): "When I first got the NL varieties, there were 8 types, 1-8… most were hybrids."³ Greg: ten strains (2013), "the 11 packets of seed I mailed to Nevil" (2014), "NL # 1 was not sent to The Netherlands we sent #2 through #12" (2021).³ McCormick: Nevil received NL #1–#11 in 1985, but not "Purest Indica".⁴

3d. NL #1

Confidence: disputed. Nevil: "NL1 was a full blood Afghan indica"; "a pure strain from the pacific N.W."³ Greg (2021): "#1 was Murphy's x Murphys". Greg (2014): "Nevils Afghani crossed with the Seattle Afghan strain from Steve Murphy".³

3e. NL #2

Confidence: reported. "Don"/"The Indian" crossed his own Afghan hybrid with Murphy's Afghan; Greg (2021) is unsure whether it was Hash Plant or Don's "stinky Affie".³²¹² Nevil: "IMO a NL version of Kush".³ The "Indian on an island near Seattle" detail is treated as rumor by secondary sources.¹³¹²

3f. NL #5: Afghani × Hawaiian F1 (1982, Herbie) vs. "sport / part Thai"

Confidence: disputed

Greg: "NL #5 was a F1 hybrid in 1982"; "the clone I traded Herbie Nelson for was 50% Afghani & 50% Hawaiian sativa", though "Herbie and i never went into detail".³ Nevil: "NL5 was a sport. The brothers couldn't deliver." He also wrote that "NL5 only produced one unique individual" and that the US NL5 mother "was as it was described to me, part Thai". Later he said "I probably perpetuated the Thai/NL5 myth" and that the line "had completely dropped any Thai influence from the mother".³ Sensi's current NL page still cites "Afghani and Thai genetics".⁹

4. Timeline

• 1975–1979 — Steve Murphy publishes indoor-growing books as "Murphy Stevens" and runs the Indoor Sun Shoppe, Seattle;²¹² c.1979 Greg receives four Afghan seeds.⁴³⁸
• 1982 — Greg: NL #5 F1 made, and he trades Herbie for the clone.³
• 1984–1985 — Nevil receives NL seed lots (McCormick: 1985, #1–#11);⁴ Greg says he mailed them;³² Nevil says he met "the Indian" to obtain the US NL5 cutting "two years after getting the seeds", "the only NL cutting that I ever got".³ (supplier disputed)
• 1986-11 — High Times grower: NL "a mainstay variety in Vancouver, B.C.", 85–90 days.¹¹
• 1986-11-06 (published 1987-03) — Nevil: "My number one seller is Northern Lights"; Seed Bank 1986/87 catalogue advertises Northern Lights; Connoisseur ratings of NL, NL5x8 and the NL #5 F1 cutting ("no seeds are available… only cuttings").¹
• 1987–1988 — Seed Bank ads: "NORTHERN LIGHTS, BIG BUD, and SKUNK#1"; growers report NL 5 × 8 and NL × Afghani #1 clones.¹⁴¹
• January 1988 — First Cannabis Cup: Northern Lights wins the indica category, NL #5/Skunk #1 the mostly-indica category.⁵
• 1989 — Seed Bank takes all five prizes; NL1, NL5, NL5 × Haze and EP × SK1 × NL5 entered.⁶
• 1990 — NL #5 (Seed Bank) overall Cup winner (Wikipedia's list).⁷
• 1989-10 — Murphy's Sun Shoppe raided in Operation Green Merchant.²¹²
• 1990–1991 — Nevil arrested in Australia (24 July 1990), bailed 21 June 1991; sells The Seed Bank to Sensi (1991).¹⁰

5. Notable cuts / phenotypes / remakes

• NL #1 — the pure-Afghan line; "so full of resin it just looked levels above the rest" (1989 Cup judge).⁶³ Nevil used Hash Plant × NL1 in Sensi's "Gravity".³
• NL #2 — Kush-like ("NL version of Kush"); Nevil crossed it with Kush 4.³
• NL #5 — elite clone; cuttings only in 1987.¹ Parent of NL5 × Haze (see nl5-haze) and of NL5/Skunk #1, Early Pearl/Skunk #1 × NL5/Haze.⁵⁷
• NL5 × 8 — strong indica "with just a little sativa" (1987).¹
• Sensi Northern Lights — current line: 90% indica, 45–50 days.⁹
• Modern preservation — Bodhi/Jtoucan NL #5 (via BC Seed Co.), Coastal Seeds and Crickets & Cicada NL #1, Greg sharing NL #5 (per Beard Bros 2021; not checked with breeders).²

6. Historical descriptions by era

1986–1989. A four-foot, four-ounce plant at 85–90 days from seed (1986).¹¹ "One of the most resinous plants developed by indoor breeders".¹ NL5 F1: within a few hits "you will be nicely stoned". NL5x8: "not as cerebral as #5, but a good smoke for the late night".¹ Nevil said US customers wanted "strong, overpowering, two-toke indica with huge yields".¹ Texas growers called it "chrome-plated, big-budded".¹⁴

2010s–2020s. Sensi: short 45–50-day flowering.⁹ Leafly (via search snippet): mostly calming; relaxed, happy, sleepy; roughly 3,800 reviews.¹⁵ Reddit: a sleep and pain-relief indica, a beginner grow, a "classic".¹⁶

7. Cannabinoid & terpene profile

Strain names are not reliable chemotype identifiers (Smith et al. 2022; Jikomes & Zoorob 2018). "Northern Lights" is also a generic retail name.

The plain-NL label is mostly myrcene/caryophyllene, fitting the "earthy, sedating indica" image. NL #5-labelled samples lean pinene/terpinolene, which would be consistent with a sativa (Hawaiian or Thai) half but proves nothing about genetics.

8. Community sentiment

Samples: Leafly's roughly 3,800 reviews (seen only through search snippets; the page returned 403 during research);¹⁵ 269 cannabis-context Reddit comments filtered from 1,257 archive hits, most of which were about the aurora;¹⁶ High Times readers and judges 1987–1989;¹⁶¹⁴ compiled forum posts.³

• Relaxing/sleepy body indica, used for insomnia and pain — common, positive.¹⁵¹⁶
• Classic/old school, 1990s hydro staple in Toronto, Australia and the UK — common, positive.¹⁶
• Compact, resinous, easy indoor plant — occasional, positive.⁶⁹
• Fake or mislabelled "Northern Lights" — occasional, negative.¹⁶
• Bland or weak against modern strains; dry mouth and eyes — occasional, negative.¹⁵¹⁶
• Lineage arguments (#1/#2/#5, Thai or not) — common on forums.³¹⁷

Paraphrases: A 1987 Texas reader said Seed Bank NL was the most "chrome-plated" weed he had grown.¹⁴ A 1989 Cup judge said NL #1 looked a level above the rest for resin.⁶ An Australian user recalled NL, NL5 and Super Skunk among strains grown by 1990s collectives.[^19a] A 2011 r/trees user recalled a dealer notorious for "Northern Lights that obviously weren't".[^19b]

Era shift. 1980s underground Seattle/Vancouver indica, then the Seed Bank's best seller and a Cup winner. In the 1990s it was a global hydro staple. Since the 2010s it has been a nostalgic "classic", a generic retail name, and the subject of breeder-history disputes.

Overall score: 80/100. Sample estimate: Leafly ~3,800 (snippet) + 269 Reddit + ~10 period reader/judge comments.

Conflicts with lab data. Its "pure indica" reputation sits against myrcene-led profiles that still include terpinolene-dominant samples (6/76). Its Cup-era resin reputation sits against modest modern THC means (16–18%).

9. Open questions / could not verify

• The original Greg and Nevil posts behind the 2026 compilation (the ICMag 2024 thread returned 403, and Wayback returned 429 for long periods).
• The genetics of NL #5 and who supplied Nevil's cutting.
• The number of lines and which went to Holland; whether Nevil first received seeds in 1984 or 1985.
• A primary 1990 Cup report.
• The Breeders Syndicate podcast with Seattle Greg (not listened to).

10. Sources

Lab sources: src-chem-smith2022-data, src-chem-wa-i502-jikomes2018 (computed in _computed_skunk-nl-haze_*_stats.json).