Aims This study examined how climatic conditions, tree species and stand factors (i.e. stand age, stem density, and wood volume, etc.) affected the tree growth-climate relationships in larch plantations. Methods The dendroecological method was used to determine the relative effects of climatic condition, tree species, site quality and stand factors on tree growth in larch plantations in response to climate change in Caohekou and Wandianzi of Liaoning Province, China. Important findings The effects of potential evapotranspiration (PET) were strongest among all the variables in explaining the tree growth-climate relationships. Stand age, tree density and wood volume were also important factors influencing growth-climate relationships. Climate warming had differential effects on radial growth in plantations of different stand ages: while the growth of mid-age stands were positively correlated with temperature, the growth of mature stands had a negative response to warming, possibly due to increased susceptibility to warming-induced water stress with stand age. Tree species and site quality were weak modulators of growthclimate relationships in this study. Our finding of the negative impact of climate warming on mature larch plantations highlights the need to explore management methods in larch plantations for better adaptation to future climate change.