Strain Library

Northern Light came out of the US west coast in the late 1970s, reportedly from a pool of eleven different seed lines that have since been interbred and hybridized so thoroughly that no one can fully reconstruct the pedigree. What's generally agreed on is that an Afghan indica formed the core of the original cross, with possible Thai genetics mixed in from some of the eleven starters. The line became one of the foundational genetics of commercial cannabis - every major modern indica hybrid either descends from it or has been influenced by it. RQS's feminized version works from Northern Light S1 and produces an indica-dominant plant with an unusual tell: the leaf structure carries noticeable sativa traits, a genetic fingerprint from the Thai side of the ancestral pool.

Candy Kush Express is RQS's fast-flowering answer to the long-standing "I want a Kush but not a three-month cycle" request. Genetically she is Sweet Special x Royal Kush. Sweet Special brings the candy notes — that lineage traces back through Grapefruit, Hog, and Cream Caramel, three strains that each put citrus-sweet profiles on the map in their own era. Royal Kush contributes the backbone, descending directly from the legendary Afghani Kush and carrying the indica density, resin production, and sedative potential that come with that side of the family. What makes this cross unusual is the split: 40% sativa, 60% indica is about as close to balanced as the Kush family gets, where most crosses tip hard toward knock-out indica territory. The result is a plant that tastes like candy, grows like a compact indica, and hits like a much more balanced hybrid than the name would lead you to expect.

Critical is the answer to the question most commercial growers actually ask - what yields the most weight in the shortest time without sacrificing smoke quality? The genetic answer RQS landed on is Afghani x Skunk, an indica-dominant cross that compresses a classic heavy-stone Afghan profile into a plant that finishes in seven weeks. This isn't a connoisseur strain and isn't trying to be. It's a production pick built around a specific calculation: maximum grams per square meter per week, with enough potency and flavor to stand up to retail-grade expectations.

Royal Cheese Auto is the autoflowering version of the legendary UK Cheese line — a strain bred in Britain for its notorious pungency and tranquil, munchy effect profile. RQS built their auto version by crossing Cheese into Royal Critical Auto, which contributed the short cycle and euphoric lift of a Cannabis Cup-winning autoflower. The result is a 50% indica, 30% sativa, 20% ruderalis split that preserves the skunky cheese aroma while cutting weeks off the timeline. For growers chasing Cheese character without the full photoperiod commitment, this is the cleanest shortcut RQS offers, and the phenotype expression stays close enough to the original UK Cheese that veteran growers recognize the lineage immediately.