UCCE Master Gardeners Participate in Research to Identify Trees That Withstand Climate Change

Nine UC Master Gardeners in San Bernardino County, the Chino Basin Water Conservation District (CBWCD), Inland Empire Resource Conservation District and Mountain States Wholesale Nursery are collaborating with UC Cooperative Extension Environmental Horticulture Advisor and Prinicpal Investigator Janet Hartin on a 'climate-ready landscape trees' study to determine the impacts of mulch on tree growth and health. The project is located at CBWCD in Montclair and includes four species of landscape trees from a larger study at UC Riverside consisting of 12 species without a mulch/no mulch comparison. Species included in the mulch trial are: Parkinsonia x Desert Museum (Desert Museum Palo Verde), Prosopis glandulosa 'Maverick' (Maverick Mesquite), Chilopsis lineris 'Bubba' (Desert Willow) and Pistacia 'Red Push' (Red Push Pistache). Trees were planted in late 2016 and received adequate irrigation for one year to assure adequate early growth. Irrigation was tapered off in 2017 and trees now receive no supplemental irrigation. The first round of results will be reported in July, 2019 by Janet at the annual American Society for Horticultural Science 'Climate Change in Urban Landscapes' session co-chaired by fellow UCCE Advisor Igor Lacan, former UC Davis Postdoctoral Researcher Lloyd Nackley (currently a Plant Physiologist/Nursery Specialist at Oregon State University) and Janet.  Thank you to all of our partners! 

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