diff --git a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubectl.ts b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubectl.ts
index 968444db1b..6018328674 100644
--- a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubectl.ts
+++ b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubectl.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ export interface ApplyParams {
   pruneLabels?: { [label: string]: string }
   validate?: boolean
   retryOpts?: RetryOpts
+  applyArgs?: string[]
 }
 
 export const KUBECTL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 300
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ export async function apply({
   namespace,
   pruneLabels,
   validate = true,
+  applyArgs,
 }: ApplyParams) {
   // Hash the raw input and add as an annotation on each manifest (this is helpful beyond kubectl's own annotation,
   // because kubectl applies some normalization/transformation that is sometimes difficult to reason about).
@@ -122,6 +124,7 @@ export async function apply({
   dryRun && args.push("--dry-run")
   args.push("--output=json", "-f", "-")
   !validate && args.push("--validate=false")
+  applyArgs && args.push(...applyArgs)
 
   let result: string
   try {
diff --git a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
index cd33f42d8f..12c9cb8705 100644
--- a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
+++ b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/kubernetes-type/config.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ export const kubernetesPatchResourcesSchema = () =>
     `
   )
 
+export const kubernetesApplyArgsSchema = () =>
+  joi.array().items(joi.string()).description("Additional arguments to pass to `kubectl apply`.")
+
 export const kubernetesCommonDeploySpecKeys = () => ({
   files: kubernetesFilesSchema(),
   kustomize: kustomizeSpecSchema(),
@@ -122,6 +125,7 @@ export const kubernetesCommonDeploySpecKeys = () => ({
   namespace: namespaceNameSchema(),
   portForwards: portForwardsSchema(),
   timeout: k8sDeploymentTimeoutSchema(),
+  applyArgs: kubernetesApplyArgsSchema(),
   // TODO-0.14: flip this to true and change default behavior to
   // wait for the jobs
   waitForJobs: joi
diff --git a/docs/reference/action-types/Deploy/kubernetes.md b/docs/reference/action-types/Deploy/kubernetes.md
index e9c21e2efa..38b8bf79a2 100644
--- a/docs/reference/action-types/Deploy/kubernetes.md
+++ b/docs/reference/action-types/Deploy/kubernetes.md
@@ -498,6 +498,16 @@ The maximum duration (in seconds) to wait for resources to deploy and become hea
 | -------- | ------- | -------- |
 | `number` | `300`   | No       |
 
+### `spec.applyArgs[]`
+
+[spec](#spec) > applyArgs
+
+Additional arguments to pass to `kubectl apply`.
+
+| Type            | Required |
+| --------------- | -------- |
+| `array[string]` | No       |
+
 ### `spec.waitForJobs`
 
 [spec](#spec) > waitForJobs
diff --git a/docs/reference/module-types/kubernetes.md b/docs/reference/module-types/kubernetes.md
index 3c7ae21ae6..2a2861ddc0 100644
--- a/docs/reference/module-types/kubernetes.md
+++ b/docs/reference/module-types/kubernetes.md
@@ -258,6 +258,9 @@ portForwards:
 # The maximum duration (in seconds) to wait for resources to deploy and become healthy.
 timeout: 300
 
+# Additional arguments to pass to `kubectl apply`.
+applyArgs:
+
 # Wait until the jobs have been completed. Garden will wait for as long as `timeout`.
 waitForJobs: false
 
@@ -1122,6 +1125,14 @@ The maximum duration (in seconds) to wait for resources to deploy and become hea
 | -------- | ------- | -------- |
 | `number` | `300`   | No       |
 
+### `applyArgs[]`
+
+Additional arguments to pass to `kubectl apply`.
+
+| Type            | Required |
+| --------------- | -------- |
+| `array[string]` | No       |
+
 ### `waitForJobs`
 
 Wait until the jobs have been completed. Garden will wait for as long as `timeout`.