diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/delete.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/delete.go
index 7440edc834a..693a0e61a02 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/delete.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/delete.go
@@ -252,7 +252,8 @@ func ReapResult(r *resource.Result, f cmdutil.Factory, out io.Writer, isDefaultD
 		if err != nil {
 			// If there is no reaper for this resources and the user didn't explicitly ask for stop.
 			if kubectl.IsNoSuchReaperError(err) && isDefaultDelete {
-				return deleteResource(info, out, shortOutput, mapper)
+				// No client side reaper found. Let the server do cascading deletion.
+				return cascadingDeleteResource(info, out, shortOutput, mapper)
 			}
 			return cmdutil.AddSourceToErr("reaping", info.Source, err)
 		}
@@ -292,7 +293,7 @@ func DeleteResult(r *resource.Result, out io.Writer, ignoreNotFound bool, shortO
 			return err
 		}
 		found++
-		return deleteResource(info, out, shortOutput, mapper)
+		return deleteResource(info, out, shortOutput, mapper, nil)
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -303,8 +304,14 @@ func DeleteResult(r *resource.Result, out io.Writer, ignoreNotFound bool, shortO
 	return nil
 }
 
-func deleteResource(info *resource.Info, out io.Writer, shortOutput bool, mapper meta.RESTMapper) error {
-	if err := resource.NewHelper(info.Client, info.Mapping).Delete(info.Namespace, info.Name); err != nil {
+func cascadingDeleteResource(info *resource.Info, out io.Writer, shortOutput bool, mapper meta.RESTMapper) error {
+	falseVar := false
+	deleteOptions := &metav1.DeleteOptions{OrphanDependents: &falseVar}
+	return deleteResource(info, out, shortOutput, mapper, deleteOptions)
+}
+
+func deleteResource(info *resource.Info, out io.Writer, shortOutput bool, mapper meta.RESTMapper, deleteOptions *metav1.DeleteOptions) error {
+	if err := resource.NewHelper(info.Client, info.Mapping).DeleteWithOptions(info.Namespace, info.Name, deleteOptions); err != nil {
 		return cmdutil.AddSourceToErr("deleting", info.Source, err)
 	}
 	cmdutil.PrintSuccess(mapper, shortOutput, out, info.Mapping.Resource, info.Name, false, "deleted")
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/resource/helper.go b/pkg/kubectl/resource/helper.go
index 5bb68018387..2cbdd847471 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/resource/helper.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/resource/helper.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/fields"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
@@ -95,10 +96,15 @@ func (m *Helper) WatchSingle(namespace, name, resourceVersion string) (watch.Int
 }
 
 func (m *Helper) Delete(namespace, name string) error {
+	return m.DeleteWithOptions(namespace, name, nil)
+}
+
+func (m *Helper) DeleteWithOptions(namespace, name string, options *metav1.DeleteOptions) error {
 	return m.RESTClient.Delete().
 		NamespaceIfScoped(namespace, m.NamespaceScoped).
 		Resource(m.Resource).
 		Name(name).
+		Body(options).
 		Do().
 		Error()
 }