diff --git a/src/_pytest/tmpdir.py b/src/_pytest/tmpdir.py
index 894a6b70e..a843b55c5 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/tmpdir.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/tmpdir.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def register_cleanup_lock_removal(lock_path, register=atexit.register):
     return register(cleanup_on_exit)
 
 
-def delete_a_numbered_dir(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
+def delete_a_numbered_dir(path):
     create_cleanup_lock(path)
     parent = path.parent
 
@@ -120,24 +120,47 @@ def delete_a_numbered_dir(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
     shutil.rmtree(str(garbage))
 
 
-def is_deletable(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
+def ensure_deletable(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
     lock = get_lock_path(path)
     if not lock.exists():
         return True
+    try:
+        lock_time = lock.stat().st_mtime
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+    else:
+        if lock_time > consider_lock_dead_after:
+            lock.unlink()
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
 
 
-def cleanup_numbered_dir(root, prefix, keep, consider_lock_dead_after):
+def try_cleanup(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
+    if ensure_deletable(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
+        delete_a_numbered_dir(path)
+
+
+def cleanup_candidates(root, prefix, keep):
     max_existing = _max(map(parse_num, find_suffixes(root, prefix)), -1)
     max_delete = max_existing - keep
     paths = find_prefixed(root, prefix)
     paths, paths2 = itertools.tee(paths)
     numbers = map(parse_num, extract_suffixes(paths2, prefix))
     for path, number in zip(paths, numbers):
-        if number <= max_delete and is_deletable(path, consider_lock_dead_after):
-            delete_a_numbered_dir(path, consider_lock_dead_after)
+        if number <= max_delete:
+            yield path
 
 
-def make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(root, prefix, keep, consider_lock_dead_after):
+def cleanup_numbered_dir(root, prefix, keep, consider_lock_dead_after):
+    for path in cleanup_candidates(root, prefix, keep):
+        try_cleanup(path, consider_lock_dead_after)
+    known_garbage = list(root.glob("garbage-*"))
+    for path in known_garbage:
+        try_cleanup(path, consider_lock_dead_after)
+
+
+def make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(root, prefix, keep, lock_timeout):
     for i in range(10):
         try:
             p = make_numbered_dir(root, prefix)
@@ -146,6 +169,7 @@ def make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(root, prefix, keep, consider_lock_dead_after)
         except Exception:
             raise
         else:
+            consider_lock_dead_after = p.stat().st_mtime + lock_timeout
             cleanup_numbered_dir(
                 root=root,
                 prefix=prefix,
@@ -188,19 +212,13 @@ class TempPathFactory(object):
                 basetemp.mkdir()
             else:
                 temproot = Path(tempfile.gettempdir())
-                user = get_user()
-                if user:
-                    # use a sub-directory in the temproot to speed-up
-                    # make_numbered_dir() call
-                    rootdir = temproot.joinpath("pytest-of-{}".format(user))
-                else:
-                    rootdir = temproot
+                user = get_user() or "unknown"
+                # use a sub-directory in the temproot to speed-up
+                # make_numbered_dir() call
+                rootdir = temproot.joinpath("pytest-of-{}".format(user))
                 rootdir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
                 basetemp = make_numbered_dir_with_cleanup(
-                    prefix="pytest-",
-                    root=rootdir,
-                    keep=3,
-                    consider_lock_dead_after=10000,
+                    prefix="pytest-", root=rootdir, keep=3, lock_timeout=10000
                 )
             assert basetemp is not None
             self._basetemp = t = basetemp
diff --git a/testing/test_tmpdir.py b/testing/test_tmpdir.py
index 5b460e628..360614673 100644
--- a/testing/test_tmpdir.py
+++ b/testing/test_tmpdir.py
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ def break_getuser(monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.delenv(envvar, raising=False)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skip(reason="creates random tmpdirs as part of a system level test")
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("break_getuser")
 @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform.startswith("win"), reason="no os.getuid on windows")
 def test_tmpdir_fallback_uid_not_found(testdir):
@@ -161,6 +162,7 @@ def test_tmpdir_fallback_uid_not_found(testdir):
     reprec.assertoutcome(passed=1)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skip(reason="creates random tmpdirs as part of a system level test")
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("break_getuser")
 @pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform.startswith("win"), reason="no os.getuid on windows")
 def test_get_user_uid_not_found():
@@ -241,3 +243,13 @@ class TestNumberedDir(object):
         )
         a, b = tmp_path.iterdir()
         print(a, b)
+
+    def test_cleanup_locked(self, tmp_path):
+
+        from _pytest import tmpdir
+
+        p = tmpdir.make_numbered_dir(root=tmp_path, prefix=self.PREFIX)
+
+        tmpdir.create_cleanup_lock(p)
+        assert not tmpdir.ensure_deletable(p, p.stat().st_mtime + 1)
+        assert tmpdir.ensure_deletable(p, p.stat().st_mtime - 1)