diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
index 497656473b1ccaa4496f91a831ea406c038831a9..19ac1802bfd4d04a456b6934322d75b89cd1ea17 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ route/max_size - INTEGER
 	Maximum number of routes allowed in the kernel.  Increase
 	this when using large numbers of interfaces and/or routes.
 
+neigh/default/gc_thresh1 - INTEGER
+	Minimum number of entries to keep.  Garbage collector will not
+	purge entries if there are fewer than this number.
+	Default: 256
+
 neigh/default/gc_thresh3 - INTEGER
 	Maximum number of neighbor entries allowed.  Increase this
 	when using large numbers of interfaces and when communicating
diff --git a/net/core/neighbour.c b/net/core/neighbour.c
index c815f285e5ab76e354dd7752f7ef1c1049154570..7bd0eedb357fe0dd9e81eda5b9d7c36e2ca3e54c 100644
--- a/net/core/neighbour.c
+++ b/net/core/neighbour.c
@@ -778,6 +778,9 @@ static void neigh_periodic_work(struct work_struct *work)
 	nht = rcu_dereference_protected(tbl->nht,
 					lockdep_is_held(&tbl->lock));
 
+	if (atomic_read(&tbl->entries) < tbl->gc_thresh1)
+		goto out;
+
 	/*
 	 *	periodically recompute ReachableTime from random function
 	 */
@@ -832,6 +835,7 @@ static void neigh_periodic_work(struct work_struct *work)
 		nht = rcu_dereference_protected(tbl->nht,
 						lockdep_is_held(&tbl->lock));
 	}
+out:
 	/* Cycle through all hash buckets every base_reachable_time/2 ticks.
 	 * ARP entry timeouts range from 1/2 base_reachable_time to 3/2
 	 * base_reachable_time.