diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 0469d5fcfac6f5596af429d8a6b16753c55bf663..0dcc7850838178b1457b99a8e559f0b7b06fa11b 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -97,6 +97,11 @@ Node
   when answering heavy RPCs. This can be enabled using
   ``--external-rpc-addr`` (MR :gl:`!9490`)
 
+- 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 990cc4a895a2a805260c0838d7b363e081077364..8dcdfd7db5030629cc068c550fa40ebb9ea8cdf8 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/bootstrap.ml
@@ -189,7 +189,15 @@ let check_bootstrap_with_history_modes hmode1 hmode2 =
   in
   (* Initialize nodes and client. *)
   let node_1_args =
-    Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0; Connections 1; History_mode hmode1]
+    (* 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
diff --git a/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml b/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
index ba01ca98f88aeb8c27ec43a0dcddc5205a804b44..eb0f392cfc5735502dd6925c63249b56815a9494 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/storage_maintenance.ml
@@ -52,7 +52,13 @@ 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
@@ -154,7 +160,11 @@ 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
@@ -316,7 +326,9 @@ 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 fbae52d84f9a8f2e4b3506256d376cd422604114..a05ef8063a2b062c8c6959c9ef070612b057ae6b 100644
--- a/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml
+++ b/tezt/tests/storage_snapshots.ml
@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@
 
 let team = Tag.layer1
 
-let node_arguments = Node.[Synchronisation_threshold 0]
+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")