diff --git a/tildes/tildes/lib/database.py b/tildes/tildes/lib/database.py
index e3d17bc..8059ec7 100644
--- a/tildes/tildes/lib/database.py
+++ b/tildes/tildes/lib/database.py
@@ -118,6 +118,11 @@ class ArrayOfLtree(ARRAY):
             if not value:
                 return []
 
+            # the only case where there might be an escaped item (surrounded by double
+            # quotes) is the string "null" - all other causes of escaping aren't valid
+            # for ltree values
+            value = value.replace('"null"', "null")
+
             return value.split(",")
 
         def process(value: Optional[str]) -> Optional[list[str]]: