diff --git a/mongoengine/queryset.py b/mongoengine/queryset.py
index 68afefca..2de15ed4 100644
--- a/mongoengine/queryset.py
+++ b/mongoengine/queryset.py
@@ -376,9 +376,13 @@ class QuerySet(object):
             construct a multi-field index); keys may be prefixed with a **+**
             or a **-** to determine the index ordering
         """
-        index_list = QuerySet._build_index_spec(self._document, key_or_list)
-        self._collection.ensure_index(index_list, drop_dups=drop_dups,
-            background=background)
+        index_spec = QuerySet._build_index_spec(self._document, key_or_list)
+        self._collection.ensure_index(
+            index_spec['fields'], 
+            drop_dups=drop_dups,
+            background=background,
+            sparse=index_spec.get('sparse', False),
+            unique=index_spec.get('unique', False))
         return self
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/tests/queryset.py b/tests/queryset.py
index 081ffb32..8d046902 100644
--- a/tests/queryset.py
+++ b/tests/queryset.py
@@ -2099,6 +2099,22 @@ class QuerySetTest(unittest.TestCase):
         Number.drop_collection()
 
 
+    def test_ensure_index(self):
+        """Ensure that manual creation of indexes works.
+        """
+        class Comment(Document):
+            message = StringField()
+
+        Comment.objects.ensure_index('message')
+
+        info = Comment.objects._collection.index_information()
+        info = [(value['key'],
+                 value.get('unique', False),
+                 value.get('sparse', False))
+                for key, value in info.iteritems()]
+        self.assertTrue(([('_types', 1), ('message', 1)], False, False) in info)
+
+
 class QTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):