diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 62d96394..d18d084a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,14 @@ Reverse Chronological Order:
 
 https://github.com/capistrano/capistrano/compare/v3.2.1...HEAD
 
+* Enhancement (@townsen)
+  * Added the variable `:repo_tree` which allows the specification of a sub-tree that
+    will be extracted from the repository. This is useful when deploying a project
+    that lives in a subdirectory of a larger repository.
+    Implemented only for git and hg.
+    If not defined then the behaviour is as previously and the whole repository is
+    extracted (subject to git-archive `.gitattributes` of course).
+
 * Enhancements (@townsen)
   * Previously filtering would affect any generated configuration files so that
     files newly deployed would not be the same as those on the hosts previously
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 99c3db3d..948f05fc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ The following variables are settable:
 | Variable Name         | Description                                                          | Notes                                                           |
 |:---------------------:|----------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
 | `:repo_url`           | The URL of your scm repository (git, hg, svn)                        | file://, https://, ssh://, or svn+ssh:// are all supported      |
+| `:repo_tree`          | The subtree of the scm repository to deploy (git, hg)                | Only implemented for git and hg repos. Extract just this tree   |
 | `:branch`             | The branch you wish to deploy                                        | This only has meaning for git and hg repos, to specify the branch of an svn repo, set `:repo_url` to the branch location. |
 | `:scm`                | The source control system used                                       | `:git`, `:hg`, `:svn` are currently supported                   |
 | `:tmp_dir`            | The (optional) temp directory that will be used (default: /tmp)      | if you have a shared web host, this setting may need to be set (i.e. /home/user/tmp/capistrano). |
diff --git a/lib/capistrano/git.rb b/lib/capistrano/git.rb
index 93b2297f..a1c6ca92 100644
--- a/lib/capistrano/git.rb
+++ b/lib/capistrano/git.rb
@@ -30,7 +30,13 @@ class Capistrano::Git < Capistrano::SCM
     end
 
     def release
-      git :archive, fetch(:branch), '| tar -x -f - -C', release_path
+      if tree = fetch(:repo_tree)
+        tree = tree.slice %r#^/?(.*?)/?$#, 1
+        components = tree.split('/').size
+        git :archive, fetch(:branch), tree, "| tar -x --strip-components #{components} -f - -C", release_path
+      else
+        git :archive, fetch(:branch), '| tar -x -f - -C', release_path
+      end
     end
 
     def fetch_revision
diff --git a/lib/capistrano/hg.rb b/lib/capistrano/hg.rb
index 2c5bca30..e7f02909 100644
--- a/lib/capistrano/hg.rb
+++ b/lib/capistrano/hg.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,13 @@ class Capistrano::Hg < Capistrano::SCM
     end
 
     def release
-      hg "archive", release_path, "--rev", fetch(:branch)
+      if tree = fetch(:repo_tree)
+        tree = tree.slice %r#^/?(.*?)/?$#, 1
+        components = tree.split('/').size
+        hg "archive --type tgz -p . -I", tree, "--rev", fetch(:branch), "| tar -x --strip-components #{components} -f - -C", release_path
+      else
+        hg "archive", release_path, "--rev", fetch(:branch)
+      end
     end
 
     def fetch_revision
diff --git a/spec/lib/capistrano/git_spec.rb b/spec/lib/capistrano/git_spec.rb
index a474ad4b..35073082 100644
--- a/spec/lib/capistrano/git_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/capistrano/git_spec.rb
@@ -57,14 +57,25 @@ module Capistrano
     end
 
     describe "#release" do
-      it "should run git archive" do
-        context.expects(:fetch).returns(:branch)
+      it "should run git archive without a subtree" do
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:repo_tree).returns(nil)
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:branch).returns(:branch)
         context.expects(:release_path).returns(:path)
 
         context.expects(:execute).with(:git, :archive, :branch, '| tar -x -f - -C', :path)
 
         subject.release
       end
+
+      it "should run git archive with a subtree" do
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:repo_tree).returns('tree')
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:branch).returns(:branch)
+        context.expects(:release_path).returns(:path)
+
+        context.expects(:execute).with(:git, :archive, :branch, 'tree', '| tar -x --strip-components 1 -f - -C', :path)
+
+        subject.release
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/lib/capistrano/hg_spec.rb b/spec/lib/capistrano/hg_spec.rb
index 7519cffc..d7d5147d 100644
--- a/spec/lib/capistrano/hg_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/capistrano/hg_spec.rb
@@ -57,14 +57,25 @@ module Capistrano
     end
 
     describe "#release" do
-      it "should run hg archive" do
-        context.expects(:fetch).returns(:branch)
+      it "should run hg archive without a subtree" do
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:repo_tree).returns(nil)
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:branch).returns(:branch)
         context.expects(:release_path).returns(:path)
 
         context.expects(:execute).with(:hg, "archive", :path, "--rev", :branch)
 
         subject.release
       end
+
+      it "should run hg archive with a subtree" do
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:repo_tree).returns('tree')
+        context.expects(:fetch).with(:branch).returns(:branch)
+        context.expects(:release_path).returns(:path)
+
+        context.expects(:execute).with(:hg, "archive --type tgz -p . -I", 'tree', "--rev", :branch, '| tar -x --strip-components 1 -f - -C', :path)
+
+        subject.release
+      end
     end
   end
 end