diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -4166,7 +4166,7 @@
     repo._subtoppath = dest
     try:
         # push subrepos depth-first for coherent ordering
-        c = repo['']
+        c = repo['.']
         subs = c.substate # only repos that are committed
         for s in sorted(subs):
             result = c.sub(s).push(opts)
diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -724,7 +724,7 @@
         ssh = opts.get('ssh')
 
         # push subrepos depth-first for coherent ordering
-        c = self._repo['']
+        c = self._repo['.']
         subs = c.substate # only repos that are committed
         for s in sorted(subs):
             if c.sub(s).push(opts) == 0: