On Friday, American Agriculturist posted an exclusive roundup of top corn hybrid picks for the Northeast from companies responding to our request. See Hybrid hunting time.

As you know, management by the "ultimate picker" – you – has even more influence on yield potential. And it was a tough growing season for many growers. That's why we quizzed a few of the seed company experts responding to that survey about what's to be learned from 2015 for better results in 2016.

Q1: What's the most important take-away lesson from the 2015 corn growing season?

MUCH TO BE STUDIED: Checking out hybrid plots is only the first step. Performance in soils and fields managed similar to yours is even more important.

* Taylor Doebler III/T.A. Seeds, president: 2015 weather wreaked havoc throughout the growing season. But year in and year out after harvest, the most commonly heard comment is: "I think that's what it was; but I don't quite remember."

We all need to keep detailed notes and records all year long, because yield is directly impacted by a plethora of those decisions. Some producers rely on automatic data collection at harvest, field mapping and weather data collection from "Big Data" programs. To utilize them to full potential, you still need to enter data from your written or recorded observations.

What were the soil conditions at planting? What was planted where and if something happened to the equipment in the field? What was sprayed correctly or incorrectly? Were any issues discovered during field scouting?

Recording personal observations is really the most important time you can spend. They need to be recorded, organized and filed for later review. Solely relying on memory or yield data might lead to incorrectly diagnosing a crop failure or skew a decision on crop inputs for the following year.

* Dervin Druist/ Syngenta, Mid-Atlantic agronomic service rep: The growing season reminded us how important it is to observe crop conditions and adjust plans as the season unfolds to maximize harvest yields. Compared to the past three years, we had quite a different growing season. 2012-2014 were cooler than normal growing seasons with ample timely rainfall. 2015 began with a warm dry May, followed by excessive rains in June and early July, than variable rainfall across the state the rest of the season.

~~~PAGE_BREAK_HERE~~~

GDU's for 2015 were higher year-to-date than the previous three seasons. Years like this may need to adjust fertility application timing, or adjust herbicide programs due to excessive rainfall, etc. It's always good to scout the crop and stay tuned to the changing needs of the cropping system throughout the season.

* Marty Dunton/ Growmark/FS, seed business manager: Crops that were planted when the ground was ready – not on a calendar date or rushed because the neighbor was already planting – had the best yields given what we experienced from the dry May to the wet June and July. 

* Art Graves, Mycogen Seeds, commercial agronomist: Excess moisture during the 2015 growing season has led to a larger investment in drainage tile to maintain standability and plant health for high quality feed production. When corn faces stress from excess water, it produces lower quality feed. Good soil drainage and overall agronomics are needed to maximize corn silage feed quality and yield potential in 2016.

* Fred Lepley/ Hubner Seed, regional sales manager: The most important take-away from 2015 is the need to plant multiple hybrids with varying growing degree units to mid-pollination and maturity. Too often, we only look at days to maturity. But looking at the timing of pollination and varying hybrids accordingly is the most important thing.

* Ryan Nuttall, DuPont Pioneer, Northeast tech product manager: The big take-away was the importance of N management, especially with June's higher than normal rainfall. Corn crops showed signs of deficiencies unless growers applied supplemental N. Side-dressing showed significant yield responses.

Q2: What hybrid traits may be most important in 2016?

Nuttall: I'd encourage ranking hybrid traits that combat NCLB at the top of their priority list. The Northeast's climate really provides a favorable environment to this disease. Selecting hybrids with adequate genetic resistance is key to preventing NCLB yield losses.

Lepley: As far as traits, we have seen an increase in corn borer pressure and would expect that to continue into next year. Too often we seem to forget how much damage corn borer can cause.

Graves: As silage corn growers begin evaluating seed for 2016, it's important to select hybrids that will perform well both in the field and in the ration. Silage hybrids with high fiber digestibility, such as bm3 brown midrib, are a top priority to encourage greater dry matter intake and higher milk production.

Secondarily, hybrids need to produce enough tonnage for the next year. Growers also should take time to reflect on the last few growing seasons to identify what agronomic characteristics are important to maximize yield potential on the farm.

Dunton: Too often, farmers rely on choosing their favorite hybrid instead of choosing one that'll work best on the given acre. Have a plan for each hybrid in each field so they live up to their per-acre yield potential.

The wrong hybrid too often is placed in the wrong field for the wrong reason. That's why we train each crop specialist, so we can avoid these mistakes.

Druist: The corn rootworm trait continues to bring great value in corn-on-corn rotations. Proper trait stewardship via a planned crop rotation system allows you to continue to receive the benefits of today's technology. Growers should value multiple modes of action in insect resistant traits and also utilize other tools such as in furrow insecticides in their crop rotation systems to help preserve the viability of the traits that we currently have available in the marketplace.

Northern Corn Leaf Blight is fast becoming one of the larger challenges in Northeast corn production. Selecting hybrids with a higher tolerance puts you in the best position to combat this challenge.

Doebler: Evaluation of the cropping system that the trait is used in is most important. Traits are tools to help manage within that system. In some systems, no traits could be the best option for best return on investment. 

Select traits knowing what pests need to be controlled and what herbicides are being used. More trait options will be available in the future; but not all may fit your cropping system or be acceptable to the end user. Choose traits wisely.