diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index 5f539d7d8f..ea1b3217fe 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -3051,6 +3051,8 @@ static void parse_ls(struct branch *b)
 		struct object_entry *e = parse_treeish_dataref(&p);
 		root = new_tree_entry();
 		hashcpy(root->versions[1].sha1, e->idx.sha1);
+		if (!is_null_sha1(root->versions[1].sha1))
+			root->versions[1].mode = S_IFDIR;
 		load_tree(root);
 		if (*p++ != ' ')
 			die("Missing space after tree-ish: %s", command_buf.buf);