diff --git a/lib/maple_tree.c b/lib/maple_tree.c
index bcce83fa5537..24b31aee7880 100644
--- a/lib/maple_tree.c
+++ b/lib/maple_tree.c
@@ -3189,7 +3189,7 @@ static inline int mas_rebalance(struct ma_state *mas,
 	 * tries to combine the data in the same way.  If one node contains the
 	 * entire range of the tree, then that node is used as a new root node.
 	 */
-	mas_node_count(mas, 1 + empty_count * 3);
+	mas_node_count(mas, empty_count * 2 - 1);
 	if (mas_is_err(mas))
 		return 0;