history of matanuska thunder fuck

well so far i'm 30 so i can't claim to be one of those old matsu hippy growers but i'm working on it and i'm lucky enough to have been raised by them right here in the matanuska-susitna. i always ask them about the old school matanuska thunder fuck i know it by, heard them call it a few namesbeing "matanuska valley thunder fuck" - "MTF" - "Thunder". I've smoked the real deal many, many times and it always had that creeping feeling like something bigs coming, then bangs you with a heavy cerebral high that sent tingles through your brain, neck and shoulders, and later drops hard right down to your toes for some heavy couch lock. it's the signature high you could say, the proof in the pudding. as far as history and info of the strain here's what i've some to hear repeated over and over in every circle
of old timer alaskan growers as far as how the stuff came about and where it's at now. as far as "alaskan strains" - alaska doesn't really have any landrace cannabis other than some possible ruderalis which also thrives in russia, the climate is just too harsh for naturally produce any other strain.
all the great pot came up the northwest coast on the hippy train back in the mid 60's and on.. most of their strains were coming from mexico, cali, canada, hawaii, thailand, veitnam, holland, and the like. that was the reality of things across the entire span of the northwest coast. it was just a huge pool of incredible world class cannabis. certain parts of the world back in the day knew all about sensimilla but the info haden't reached the masses yet and these hippies were taking the seeds from all this incredible bud and attempting to grow. the funny thing from what i've been told is when my folks, uncles/aunts started growing as hippy teens, they didn't even know to bud the plants. they just grow them as tall as possible out in the sun and harvest all the leaves which were still crystally and would get you high. eventually things got more advanced and nixon starting his anti-hippy/pot campaign forced grows to get smart about indoor growing and with that other things took place such as breeding hybrids. this is when certain hybrids were being born and could only be found in certain areas which again, was the story all over the coast. alaska actually has a few strains besides its mtf being kodiak gold, the shit that killed elvis aka elvis, chikalooney to name a few.. everything else you find around here is imported or homegrown popular brand strains.
the story behind how matanuska thunder fuck took it's name is this..
around '75 things got interesting when an attorney by the name of irwin ravin purposely got himself arrested while in possession so he could challenge the current anti-pot laws that nixon started. the courts looked at the alaska constitution which gives residents the right to uninfringed privacy and ruled that marijuana didn't constitute a person any danger and isn't reason to infringe ravin's privacy. this effectively made possession legal.
when news got out that alaska legalized, high times magazine gave alaska a cover and feature story. they found the cook inlet man responsible and in the interview he called the "thunder weed" by its full name, "matanuska valley thunder fuck" ... the magazine cut it down to "matanuska thunder fuck" when they published their feature. everyone followed suit and started calling it exactly that.
the magazine had a huge fan base even in the 70's, a lot of people saw the feature and decided to head to alaska to check it out. in 89, bush finished off what reagan started and alaska was finally pushed to recriminalize cannabis. the alaska d.e.a. started hitting grow ops hard and they targetted the biggest strain, mtf, the hardest. the strain went very underground and was passed off to the hell's angels simple because they could keep the strain safe. there were also a few hippy growers that kept it going simple
because they followed the rules, kept their grows small and sayed out of the d.e.a.'s sight. a lot of people will swear to you it never existed or is now gone forever, but i can tell you its still around, only harder to find.
there's also a lot of confusion over names so to share what i know..
matanuska thunder fuck and mtf is the most popular choice for alaskans. the name "alaska or alaskan thunder fuck" was given by people who weren't from here going back home and trying to tell people about the incredible strain.. its a lot easier to say and spell than "matanuska". the first seed banks to offer matanuska thunder fuck seeds were sagarmatha seeds and brothers grim, and then there's reeferman - reeferman seeds offers up what they called "kodiak gold aka mtf".. kodiak gold is actually a pretty well known strain in alaska that indeed comes down south around kodiak, indica dominant
stuff that i've had a few times and it gives a strong couch lock, nothing more.
sagarmatha seeds has matanuska tundra which they also call mtf. story is some guy from that seedbank, rob, travelled to alaska and pirated the strain, they bred it with something else and came up with tundra. i personally find this hard to believe since mtf is fairly well guarded even before the hells angels got ahold of it. it moved towards a clone only plant back in the late 70's, early 80's as well which makes long travel very challenging.
brothers grimm called something they had mtf, actually i believe they were the first to have anything from alaska, but their strain was listed as indica dominant which points towards the kodiak.
grothers grimm i believe was the first to claim they had "matanuska thunder fuck" but the truth of the matter it's actually kodiak gold, and indica dom. which is still a killer strain that lays a haymaker of a narcotic stone. i've had the pleasure of smoking a seeing a few grow and its plain to see where it differs from actually mtf. from there, other banks popped up with what they either called pure mtf's or hybrids of it.
sagamartha seeds also offers matanuska mist aka matanuska mint is a cross of tundra and grey mist. then you have blue alaskan which is what some is calling mtf and blueberry. all these strains also are indica dominant.

now as far as what the original strain was bred from.. original haze, nothern lights, skunk and highland oaxacan gold are named as definate parents.. they had all become big names by the early to mid 70's and they were widely popular in alaska back in that day. the indoor/outdoor growers took those gene pools and started creating hybrids for both indoor and outdoor. what they came up with was a high sativa dominant plant that still had some some the indicas hardiness and yeild.
my folks, aunts and uncles have had a lot of time spend with the mtf, they know what it tastes, smells, and looks like and i can say i've had the honor of smoking and growing the strain and i've also gotten to grow everything claiming to be the mtf besides the brother grimms strain but i do know if they claims its indica dom., it's not legit. so far, i can't find any thing that holds a match to what i know is the original valley thunder.
well, this matsu boy has shared what he knows. take from it what you will and just incase anyone finds themselves in palmer near lazy mountain, let me know and i'd be happy to share some samples and take you on the mtf tour!
--- first posted this on grasscity, wanted to share it here too.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

Nice read........heard a lot about that strain.....but it seems it had disappeared......nice to hear it's around somewhere...would be nice to grow too......

def a good read.

I actually have an MTF about 6-7 weeks into flower. Obviously I'm not certain the genetics are legit but here's my story.
My buddy who I get all my clones from (always has killer genetics and at a friend price) has his own source for clones. An OG grower whose been guarding some strains for maaany many years. He got my friend Jack Herer, Spirit of 76, MTF, and a handful of other nice strains. I was allowed to buy one clone off of him as long as I promised to flower it and take no clones for myself. The genetics were to remain in his hands.

Of course I took the deal. It grew VERY bushy. I didnt top it but it ended up having about 10 tops of its own (next to all my single cola purples and diesels) and the resin development SHAT on the rest of my plants. At week 6-7 every single leaf has ridiculous trich's on it, and the buds smell so tangy and pleasant. Trichs started very early into flower (WEEEEEKS before every other strain I've got) and it does have pretty narrow sativa leaves. I was told to let it flower around 10 weeks.

Any idea if this sounds like the legit MTF? I'd love to know, the only camera I have is a 1.3MP on my phone and the quality is shit, so idk if a pic would help

LOVE the strain I'm growing now though, such a shame I can't have my own mother

I got a bag down in Seward in winter of 08. I have to say it was the most incredible high I've ever experienced, very cerebral and creative; truly a one hit wonder. As I was sitting in the airport, waiting to board the plane to Los Anchorage, I was sitting next to a guy that was going up to work on the slope. I've lived up there twice and been there many times from outside. He had a pot leaf belt buckle so that helped start up a conversation. After some conversation we got to talking about MTF. He basically told me the same thing you wrote. He also told me that his sister has a grow in her attic there in the Valley and he could get me some clones. I was going to start a grow down in Seward but things didn't work out. I emailed him a couple of times but never got an answer back. That would be worth a trip there to bring back some clones - or, as I would do it, ship them overnight express to myself.

a mate of mine has access to mtf. he comes down from alaska every now and then. truly an awesome sativa.

zarezhu - if you can manage a picture in the finishing bud stage i could probably eyeball it for you. it does sound close though, original mtf grows lanky and up to 6-7ft if you let it, brances off from the base and tends to have many tops. buds will turn white from trichome almost on par with a white widow, buds are dense as rocks and cluster in a more roundish order, not so much spearing even on the top colas. tends to smell of sweet fruits mixed with skunk, pine and diesel. i typically run mine 65 days but 70 (10 weeks) works well too.
one word of the wise though, the hells angels do consider this strain their property. my aunt whos a sever medical user got her strain back from a dear friend who's an angel and he did mention to her if she starts selling it she'd have her head cut off, no joke...
when you are trying to figure out if you strain is true mtf though, if you guy is direct from alaska, presents you with a clone, the plants displays sativa dominant traits then its very possible. like i said thou, the proof in the pudding is that distint creeping up on you then a BANG cerebral high that tingles your brain and then floors you with a couch lock stone. i'd say you have yourself some legit mtf.

Somewhere around 2000 to about 2003 there was a type of bud flooding the market in AZ we all called Alaskan however seeing I was in high school I'm not sure if that was the correct name or if some shithead kid saw it on TV and decided to call the bud ATF for marketing purposes. This was some of the most potent and definitely the strongest aroma I have had to date. An empty bag had the capability of making an entire home smell like a green house. For those of you that know real ATF, does this sound like an accurate description. The bud was extremely moist and extremely dense when dried out.
Medical cards just passed in my state and we are allowed to grow assuming we live 25 miles away from a dispensary. Do seeds exist? where can I acquire them?? thanks

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AKgreenvalley said:

zarezhu - if you can manage a picture in the finishing bud stage i could probably eyeball it for you. it does sound close though, original mtf grows lanky and up to 6-7ft if you let it, brances off from the base and tends to have many tops. buds will turn white from trichome almost on par with a white widow, buds are dense as rocks and cluster in a more roundish order, not so much spearing even on the top colas. tends to smell of sweet fruits mixed with skunk, pine and diesel. i typically run mine 65 days but 70 (10 weeks) works well too.
one word of the wise though, the hells angels do consider this strain their property. my aunt whos a sever medical user got her strain back from a dear friend who's an angel and he did mention to her if she starts selling it she'd have her head cut off, no joke...
when you are trying to figure out if you strain is true mtf though, if you guy is direct from alaska, presents you with a clone, the plants displays sativa dominant traits then its very possible. like i said thou, the proof in the pudding is that distint creeping up on you then a BANG cerebral high that tingles your brain and then floors you with a couch lock stone. i'd say you have yourself some legit mtf.

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Finally someone who know about the thunder fuck!!!!!
I came across a quarter oz. of this back in '92, my first year in Hawai'i!
Paid $150 for it, which was average price for quality bud back then, some buds sold for $200 a quarter oz, and to be honest those buds i was getting for that price were easily worth that much, especially with the crap on the market today!
So i have heard all these discriptions from seed breeders as well as people claiming to know this strain, but their descriptions weren't even close!
The buds i got were nice little round dense bright green super white buds, and the stunk like piney skunk with something indescribable. The flavor was the same as smell, and awesome!!!
The high was first class, right up there with the most elite strain i had connections to.
A slight creeper, but very strong up high, that produce very good vibes and much smile, and it lasted for a good three plus hours!!!!
Thanks bro for the memory recollection, just again proves how the older genetics and breeding was way more advanced than today's schwag!!!!

i heard it was brought back from korea by vets. i dont think there was much knowledge on indoor lighting when nixon was in office. good to hear it from someone thats actually there though. maybe your closer to the truth, thanks!

Good read -- Thanks for posting