diff --git a/agent/consul/state/kvs.go b/agent/consul/state/kvs.go
index 909126cc4..d282ec3a4 100644
--- a/agent/consul/state/kvs.go
+++ b/agent/consul/state/kvs.go
@@ -426,12 +426,14 @@ func (s *Store) kvsDeleteTreeTxn(tx *memdb.Txn, idx uint64, prefix string) error
 	deleted, err := tx.DeletePrefix("kvs", "id_prefix", prefix)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed recursive  deleting kvs entry: %s", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed recursive deleting kvs entry: %s", err)
 	}
 
 	if deleted {
-		if err := s.kvsGraveyard.InsertTxn(tx, prefix, idx); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed adding to graveyard: %s", err)
+		if prefix != "" { // don't insert a tombstone if the entire tree is deleted, all watchers on keys will see the max_index of the tree
+			if err := s.kvsGraveyard.InsertTxn(tx, prefix, idx); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("failed adding to graveyard: %s", err)
+			}
 		}
 		if err := tx.Insert("index", &IndexEntry{"kvs", idx}); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed updating index: %s", err)
diff --git a/agent/consul/state/txn_test.go b/agent/consul/state/txn_test.go
index 8c9936961..17cd1da58 100644
--- a/agent/consul/state/txn_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/state/txn_test.go
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ func TestStateStore_Txn_KVS_RO_Safety(t *testing.T) {
 	expected := []string{
 		"cannot insert in read-only transaction",
 		"cannot insert in read-only transaction",
-		"cannot insert in read-only transaction",
+		"failed recursive deleting kvs entry",
 	}
 	if len(errors) != len(expected) {
 		t.Fatalf("bad len: %d != %d", len(errors), len(expected))