diff --git a/lib/hood/kiln.hoon b/lib/hood/kiln.hoon
index 18ef20082..c012fd928 100644
--- a/lib/hood/kiln.hoon
+++ b/lib/hood/kiln.hoon
@@ -395,7 +395,21 @@
     =.  let  ?.  ?=($w p.p.u.rot)  let  ud:((hard cass:clay) q.q.r.u.rot)
     =/  =wire  /kiln/sync/[syd]/(scot %p her)/[sud]
     =/  =cass  .^(cass:clay %cw /(scot %p our)/[syd]/(scot %da now))
-    =/  =germ  ?:(=(0 ud.cass) %init %mate)
+    ::
+    ::    If we will be syncing in remote changes, we need all our sync merges
+    ::    up to and including the first remote sync to use the %init germ.
+    ::    Otherwise we won't have a merge-base with our sponsor.
+    ::
+    =/  bar=@ud
+      ?:  ?|  ?=(?($czar $pawn) (clan:title our))
+              !?=(%home syd)
+          ==
+        2
+      3
+    =/  =germ  ?:((gte bar ud.cass) %init %mate)
+    =<  %-  spam
+        ?:  =(our her)  ~
+        [(render "beginning sync" sud her syd) ~]
     (blab [ost %merg wire our syd her sud ud+let germ] ~)
   ::
   ++  mere