Yago is a frost-hardy bunching onion bred as an F1 hybrid that Johnny's Selected Seeds recommends as a replacement for the popular Nabechan variety. Hardy in zones 3 through 9, it reaches harvest maturity in just 55 days from transplants, making it one of the quickest bunching onions to the table. Its compact growth habit and reliable performance in both spring and fall plantings have earned it a solid reputation among gardeners who want tender, mild scallions without the long wait.
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Moderate
3-9
?in H x ?in W
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Moderate
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Yago delivers speed and reliability in a compact package, maturing in 55 days from transplants and thriving in zones as cold as 3. The variety can be sown in early spring for summer harvest or in midsummer for fall and spring use, giving gardeners flexibility across seasons. Its frost-hardy nature means it can survive winter outdoors in well-drained soil, rewarding patient growers with early spring harvests before most other vegetables wake up.
Yago is grown primarily as a fresh scallion or bunching onion for the kitchen table. The tender white and light green portions are harvested young and used raw in salads, as a garnish for soups and Asian noodle dishes, or cooked lightly as a side vegetable. Its mild, onion flavor and tender texture make it suitable for any preparation where you'd use a young spring onion or scallion.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Sow 6 to 8 seeds per cell in 72-cell trays at the same time you would seed bulbing onions intended for transplant. Maintain soil temperature between 50 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit for reliable germination. Time your indoor seeding to have transplant-ready seedlings available in early spring for summer use, or in midsummer (targeting a sowing window around June or July) for fall and spring harvests.
Transplant seedling clusters when they are ready, spacing them 6 to 8 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart for standard bunching onion style. For Negi-style scallions with a thicker blanched white portion, transplant when seedlings are 8 to 18 inches tall and pencil-thick into holes dibbled about 6 inches deep, spacing them 6 inches apart with rows 24 inches apart. Allow only 1 to 2 inches of leaves to extend above the soil surface. Do not firm the soil after transplanting; instead, let irrigation or rainfall settle the soil naturally around the transplants.
Loosen Yago bunching onions gently with a fork or underminer and gather them by hand. Harvest when the white portion has developed sufficiently for your preferred use, typically 55 days from transplanting. Wash the harvested bunches thoroughly and hydrocool them, then hold at near freezing until use or display.
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“Yago emerged as a modern F1 hybrid bunching onion developed to improve upon the earlier Nabechan variety. Johnny's Selected Seeds identified it as their recommended replacement, suggesting that breeders selected for traits that Nabechan growers valued but enhanced with the consistency and vigor that F1 hybrids typically offer. The variety carries the genetic legacy of selective breeding within the bunching onion group, which has been cultivated for centuries across Asia and has become increasingly important in Western gardening over the past few decades.”