diff --git a/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Labels.pm b/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Labels.pm
index 0500ad196..9b63a3665 100644
--- a/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Labels.pm
+++ b/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Labels.pm
@@ -799,7 +799,7 @@ sub on_selected_phylogeny_changed {
         $self->set_phylogeny_options_sensitive(1);
     }
     else {
-        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster(undef, 'length');
+        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster(undef, $self->{plot_mode} //= 'length');
         $self->set_phylogeny_options_sensitive(0);
         my $str = '<i>No selected tree</i>';
         $self->get_xmlpage_object('label_VL_tree')->set_markup($str);
diff --git a/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Spatial.pm b/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Spatial.pm
index 84a92cd49..51da0a181 100644
--- a/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Spatial.pm
+++ b/lib/Biodiverse/GUI/Tabs/Spatial.pm
@@ -1126,11 +1126,11 @@ sub on_selected_phylogeny_changed {
         $self->{dendrogram}->clear;
     }
     if ($phylogeny) {
-        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster($phylogeny, 'length');  #  now storing tree objects directly
+        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster($phylogeny, $self->{plot_mode} //= 'length');  #  now storing tree objects directly
         $self->set_phylogeny_options_sensitive(1);
     }
     else {
-        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster(undef, 'length');
+        $self->{dendrogram}->set_cluster(undef, $self->{plot_mode} //= 'length');
         $self->set_phylogeny_options_sensitive(0);
         my $str = '<i>No selected tree</i>';
         $self->get_xmlpage_object('spatial_label_VL_tree')->set_markup($str);