diff --git a/Annex/Branch.hs b/Annex/Branch.hs
index 5482dc44ba..5214df627d 100644
--- a/Annex/Branch.hs
+++ b/Annex/Branch.hs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ module Annex.Branch (
 	maybeChange,
 	commit,
 	forceCommit,
+	getBranch,
 	files,
 	withIndex,
 	performTransitions,
diff --git a/Command/Export.hs b/Command/Export.hs
index 1310244aca..0df13e489e 100644
--- a/Command/Export.hs
+++ b/Command/Export.hs
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ seek :: ExportOptions -> CommandSeek
 seek o = do
 	r <- getParsed (exportRemote o)
 	new <- fromMaybe (error "unknown tree") <$>
-		inRepo (Git.Ref.sha (exportTreeish o))
+		-- Dereference the tree pointed to by the branch, commit,
+		-- or tag.
+		inRepo (Git.Ref.tree (exportTreeish o))
 	old <- getExport (uuid r)
 
 	when (length old > 1) $
diff --git a/Git/Tree.hs b/Git/Tree.hs
index 3e6b85a1d4..9e9b17af2b 100644
--- a/Git/Tree.hs
+++ b/Git/Tree.hs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ module Git.Tree (
 	recordTree,
 	TreeItem(..),
 	adjustTree,
+	treeMode,
 ) where
 
 import Common
@@ -94,12 +95,15 @@ mkTree (MkTreeHandle cp) l = CoProcess.query cp send receive
 	send h = do
 		forM_ l $ \i -> hPutStr h $ case i of
 			TreeBlob f fm s -> mkTreeOutput fm BlobObject s f
-			RecordedSubTree f s _ -> mkTreeOutput 0o040000 TreeObject s f
+			RecordedSubTree f s _ -> mkTreeOutput treeMode TreeObject s f
 			NewSubTree _ _ -> error "recordSubTree internal error; unexpected NewSubTree"
 			TreeCommit f fm s -> mkTreeOutput fm CommitObject s f
 		hPutStr h "\NUL" -- signal end of tree to --batch
 	receive h = getSha "mktree" (hGetLine h)
 
+treeMode :: FileMode
+treeMode = 0o040000
+
 mkTreeOutput :: FileMode -> ObjectType -> Sha -> TopFilePath -> String
 mkTreeOutput fm ot s f = concat
 	[ showOct fm ""
diff --git a/Logs/Export.hs b/Logs/Export.hs
index a0019a06c7..1fd1460fcd 100644
--- a/Logs/Export.hs
+++ b/Logs/Export.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ import qualified Data.Map as M
 import Annex.Common
 import qualified Annex.Branch
 import qualified Git
+import qualified Git.Branch
+import Git.Tree
+import Git.FilePath
 import Logs
 import Logs.UUIDBased
 import Annex.UUID
@@ -40,6 +43,9 @@ data ExportChange = ExportChange
 -- newTreeish. This way, when multiple repositories are exporting to
 -- the same special remote, there's no conflict as long as they move
 -- forward in lock-step.
+--
+-- Also, the newTreeish is grafted into the git-annex branch. This is done
+-- to ensure that it's available later.
 recordExport :: UUID -> ExportChange -> Annex ()
 recordExport remoteuuid ec = do
 	c <- liftIO currentVectorClock
@@ -50,6 +56,7 @@ recordExport remoteuuid ec = do
 			. changeLog c u val 
 			. M.mapWithKey (updateothers c u)
 			. parseLogNew parseExportLog
+	graftTreeish (newTreeish ec)
   where
 	updateothers c u theiru le@(LogEntry _ (ExportLog t remoteuuid'))
 		| u == theiru || remoteuuid' /= remoteuuid || t `notElem` oldTreeish ec = le
@@ -65,3 +72,20 @@ parseExportLog :: String -> Maybe ExportLog
 parseExportLog s = case words s of
 	(t:u:[]) -> Just $ ExportLog (Git.Ref t) (toUUID u)
 	_ -> Nothing
+
+-- To prevent git-annex branch merge conflicts, the treeish is
+-- first grafted in and then removed in a subsequent commit.
+graftTreeish :: Git.Ref -> Annex ()
+graftTreeish treeish = do
+	branchref <- Annex.Branch.getBranch
+	Tree t <- inRepo $ getTree branchref
+	t' <- inRepo $ recordTree $ Tree $
+		RecordedSubTree (asTopFilePath graftpoint) treeish [] : t
+	commit <- inRepo $ Git.Branch.commitTree Git.Branch.AutomaticCommit
+		"export tree" [branchref] t'
+	origtree <- inRepo $ recordTree (Tree t)
+	commit' <- inRepo $ Git.Branch.commitTree Git.Branch.AutomaticCommit
+		"export tree cleanup" [commit] origtree
+	inRepo $ Git.Branch.update' Annex.Branch.fullname commit'
+  where
+	graftpoint = "export.tree"
diff --git a/doc/design/exporting_trees_to_special_remotes.mdwn b/doc/design/exporting_trees_to_special_remotes.mdwn
index 835a866404..7e5700fae0 100644
--- a/doc/design/exporting_trees_to_special_remotes.mdwn
+++ b/doc/design/exporting_trees_to_special_remotes.mdwn
@@ -133,12 +133,6 @@ key/value stores. The content of a file can change, and if multiple
 repositories can export a special remote, they can be out of sync about
 what files are exported to it. 
 
-To avoid such problems, when updating an exported file on a special remote,
-the key could be recorded there too. But, this would have to be done
-atomically, and checked atomically when downloading the file. Special
-remotes lack atomicity guarantees for file storage, let alone for file
-retrieval.
-
 Possible solution: Make exporttree=true cause the special remote to
 be untrusted, and rely on annex.verify to catch cases where the content
 of a file on a special remote has changed. This would work well enough
@@ -205,13 +199,8 @@ In this case, git-annex knows both exported trees. Have the user provide
 a tree that resolves the conflict as they desire (it could be the same as
 one of the exported trees, or some merge of them or an entirely new tree).
 The UI to do this can just be another `git annex export $tree --to remote`.
-To resolve, diff each exported tree in turn against the resolving tree. If a
-file differs, re-export that file. In some cases this will do unncessary
-re-uploads, but it's reasonably efficient.
-
-The documentation should suggest strongly only exporting to a given special
-remote from a single repository, or having some other rule that avoids
-export conflicts.
+To resolve, diff each exported tree in turn against the resolving tree
+and delete all files that differ.
 
 ## when to update export.log for efficient resuming of exports