diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 522e9798f11c9d79a22314a3d76cc47019f544b3..bf7199702cb92b6f1913b0baa505609dc52e9023 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ Node
 - Reduced the maximum allowed timestamp drift to 1 seconds. It is recommended to
   use NTP to sync the clock of the node. (MR :gl:`!13198`)
 
+- Introduced ``--storage-maintenance-delay`` to allow delaying the
+  storage maintenance. It is set to ``auto`` by default, to
+  automatically trigger the maintenance whenever it is the most
+  suitable. (MR :gl:`!14503`)
+
 Client
 ------
 
diff --git a/src/lib_shell_services/shell_limits.ml b/src/lib_shell_services/shell_limits.ml
index 9620b1d714488e856a0dbb5c46e178fbc36d9cdf..5dcd2b802db80acc0d5e30304593d2625a71c614 100644
--- a/src/lib_shell_services/shell_limits.ml
+++ b/src/lib_shell_services/shell_limits.ml
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ let chain_validator_limits_encoding =
 
 let default_disable_context_pruning = false
 
-let default_storage_maintenance_delay = Storage_maintenance.Disabled
+let default_storage_maintenance_delay = Storage_maintenance.Auto
 
 type limits = {
   block_validator_limits : block_validator_limits;
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ let default_limits =
     chain_validator_limits = default_chain_validator_limits;
     history_mode = None;
     disable_context_pruning = Some false;
-    storage_maintenance_delay = Some Disabled;
+    storage_maintenance_delay = Some Auto;
   }
 
 let limits_encoding =
diff --git a/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml b/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml
index 02f0bf01a93275d02063dbc630d9182780abaaf5..8e3ecdb28b914cc30bd761a6717e1be1e86fb421 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml
@@ -177,8 +177,18 @@ let check_bootstrap_with_history_modes hmode1 hmode2 =
       ]
   @@ fun protocol ->
   (* Initialize nodes and client. *)
-  let* node_1 =
-    Node.init [Synchronisation_threshold 0; Connections 1; History_mode hmode1]
+  let node_1_args =
+    (* Disable the storage maintenance delay to have a deterministic
+       behavior. *)
+    Node.
+      [
+        Synchronisation_threshold 0;
+        Connections 1;
+        History_mode hmode1;
+        Storage_maintenance_delay "disabled";
+      ]
+  in
+  let* node_1 = Node.init node_1_args
   and* node_2 = Node.init [Connections 1; History_mode hmode2] in
   let endpoint_1 = Client.(Node node_1) in
   let* node2_identity = Node.wait_for_identity node_2 in
diff --git a/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml b/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
index 3d30fe5b85d7a941738c77b690589a07cfa06e72..ba97b494e60ea0a4df68452a0594ebdb2cc4b039 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
@@ -51,7 +51,13 @@ let test_context_pruning_call =
   in
   (* As the context pruning is enabled by default,we specify nothing
      on the command line. *)
-  let* node2 = Node.init ~name:"with_gc" Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0] in
+  let* node2 =
+    Node.init
+      ~name:"with_gc"
+      (* Disable the storage maintenance delay to have a deterministic
+         behavior. *)
+      Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0; Storage_maintenance_delay "disabled"]
+  in
   let* () = Client.Admin.connect_address ~peer:node2 client in
   let* (_ : int) = Node.wait_for_level node2 1 in
   let blocks_per_cycle = 8 in
@@ -153,7 +159,11 @@ let test_custom_maintenance_delay =
         ]
   in
   let* regular_node =
-    Node.init ~name:"regular_node" Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0]
+    Node.init
+      ~name:"regular_node"
+      (* Disable the storage maintenance delay to have a deterministic
+         behavior. *)
+      Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0; Storage_maintenance_delay "disabled"]
   in
   let* client = Client.init ~endpoint:(Node delayed_node) () in
   let* () = Client.Admin.connect_address ~peer:regular_node client in
@@ -315,7 +325,9 @@ let test_auto_maintenance_delay =
     Node.init
       ~name:"delayed_node"
       ~event_sections_levels:[("node.store", `Info)]
-      Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0; Storage_maintenance_delay "auto"]
+      (* No need to set the storage maintenance flag, it is expected
+         to be set to "auto", by default, by the node. *)
+      Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0]
   in
   let* client = Client.init ~endpoint:(Node delayed_node) () in
   let* () =
diff --git a/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml b/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml
index 60a8548167fea34397dfa2887e54ed4d6d379a74..ed9dad0eaaa5770848bdbe6105a19eae19dc4c3a 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml
@@ -30,7 +30,12 @@
    Subject: Tests both the snapshot mechanism and the store's behaviour
 *)
 
-let node_arguments = Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0]
+let team = Tag.layer1
+
+let node_arguments =
+  (* Disable the storage maintenance delay to have a deterministic
+     behavior. *)
+  Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0; Storage_maintenance_delay "disabled"]
 
 let pp_snapshot_export_format fmt v =
   Format.fprintf fmt "%s" (match v with Node.Tar -> "tar" | Raw -> "raw")