diff --git a/changelog/7911.bugfix.rst b/changelog/7911.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b85b20b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/7911.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Directories created by `tmpdir` are now considered stale after 3 days without modification (previous value was 3 hours) to avoid deleting directories still in use in long running test suites.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
index 0bc5bff2b..f0bdb1481 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ from _pytest.compat import assert_never
 from _pytest.outcomes import skip
 from _pytest.warning_types import PytestWarning
 
-LOCK_TIMEOUT = 60 * 60 * 3
+LOCK_TIMEOUT = 60 * 60 * 24 * 3
 
 
 _AnyPurePath = TypeVar("_AnyPurePath", bound=PurePath)