diff --git a/jetty-webapp/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/webapp/StandardDescriptorProcessor.java b/jetty-webapp/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/webapp/StandardDescriptorProcessor.java
index 1fa1c1eb6bc..2986c7467c1 100644
--- a/jetty-webapp/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/webapp/StandardDescriptorProcessor.java
+++ b/jetty-webapp/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/webapp/StandardDescriptorProcessor.java
@@ -1165,7 +1165,8 @@ public class StandardDescriptorProcessor extends IterativeDescriptorProcessor
             String welcome = indexNode.toString(false, true);
 
             //Servlet Spec 3.0 p. 74 welcome files are additive
-            context.setWelcomeFiles((String[])ArrayUtil.addToArray(context.getWelcomeFiles(),welcome,String.class));
+            if (welcome != null && welcome.trim().length() > 0)
+               context.setWelcomeFiles((String[])ArrayUtil.addToArray(context.getWelcomeFiles(),welcome,String.class));
         }
     }