diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
index 8ad8b5cc295ac3eb6144789161b95d56dae43aa6..ac999f0060b6e2d507db097948ea2de9fc89f8bc 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
@@ -1485,7 +1485,7 @@ static int split_node(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans, struct btrfs_root
 		ret = push_nodes_for_insert(trans, root, path, level);
 		c = path->nodes[level];
 		if (!ret && btrfs_header_nritems(c) <
-		    BTRFS_NODEPTRS_PER_BLOCK(root) - 1)
+		    BTRFS_NODEPTRS_PER_BLOCK(root) - 3)
 			return 0;
 		if (ret < 0)
 			return ret;