diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index af04bc82..89ee9d2f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ This project aims to adhere to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
  - [Underlying stream is not closed when we throw a `MantaClientEncryptionException`](https://github.com/joyent/java-manta/issues/391)
  - [Underlying stream is not closed by `MantaEncryptedObjectInputStream` for range requests with certain ciphers](https://github.com/joyent/java-manta/issues/398)
  - [Exceptions relating to object type expectations are too generic](https://github.com/joyent/java-manta/issues/403)
+ - [Recursive delete fails to work when retries=0](https://github.com/joyent/java-manta/issues/407)
 
 ## [3.2.1] - 2017-12-01
 ### Added
diff --git a/java-manta-client-unshaded/src/main/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClient.java b/java-manta-client-unshaded/src/main/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClient.java
index 9de89b2d..cd552ba8 100644
--- a/java-manta-client-unshaded/src/main/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClient.java
+++ b/java-manta-client-unshaded/src/main/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClient.java
@@ -314,6 +314,14 @@ public void deleteRecursive(final String path) throws IOException {
          * consumer of the SDK so that they can better tune their settings.*/
         final AtomicInteger responseTimeouts = new AtomicInteger(0);
 
+        final int tries;
+
+        if (config.getRetries() == null || config.getRetries() < 1) {
+            tries = 1;
+        } else {
+            tries = config.getRetries();
+        }
+
         while (true) {
             loops++;
 
@@ -366,7 +374,7 @@ public void deleteRecursive(final String path) throws IOException {
              * delete it even though that operation may not be immediately
              * successful. */
             toDelete.forEachOrdered(obj -> {
-                for (int i = 0; i < config.getRetries(); i++) {
+                for (int i = 0; i < tries; i++) {
                     try {
                         /* Don't bother deleting the file if it was marked as
                          * deleted from the map step. */
diff --git a/java-manta-it/src/test/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClientIT.java b/java-manta-it/src/test/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClientIT.java
index d00485e5..1194f56d 100644
--- a/java-manta-it/src/test/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClientIT.java
+++ b/java-manta-it/src/test/java/com/joyent/manta/client/MantaClientIT.java
@@ -265,6 +265,24 @@ public final void testRecursiveDeleteObject() throws IOException {
                 (MantaFunction<Object>) () -> mantaClient.get(testPathPrefix + "1"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public final void testRecursiveDeleteOnlyDirectories() throws IOException {
+        final String dir1 = String.format("%s1", testPathPrefix);
+        mantaClient.putDirectory(testPathPrefix + "1", null);
+        mantaClient.putDirectory(dir1, null);
+
+        final String dir2 = String.format("%s/2", dir1);
+        mantaClient.putDirectory(dir2, null);
+
+        final String dir3 = String.format("%s/3", dir2);
+        mantaClient.putDirectory(dir3, null);
+
+        mantaClient.deleteRecursive(testPathPrefix + "1");
+
+        MantaAssert.assertResponseFailureStatusCode(404, RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND_ERROR,
+                (MantaFunction<Object>) () -> mantaClient.get(testPathPrefix + "1"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public final void verifyYouCanJustSpecifyDirNameWhenPuttingFile() throws IOException {
         final String name = UUID.randomUUID().toString();