diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e89f22d50..e28a4c03b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Changed
 
 - Rename `Olmo` to `OLMo` everywhere in the codebase
+- Disabled automatic garbage collection during training, instead we run manually at regular intervals to avoid ranks getting out-of-sync with their own gc.
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/olmo/checkpoint.py b/olmo/checkpoint.py
index a68914f5f..1dd355a36 100644
--- a/olmo/checkpoint.py
+++ b/olmo/checkpoint.py
@@ -50,7 +50,13 @@
 from .exceptions import OLMoCheckpointError
 from .optim import Optimizer, fix_optim_state_dict
 from .safetensors_util import safetensors_file_to_state_dict
-from .torch_util import barrier, get_fs_local_rank, get_global_rank, get_world_size
+from .torch_util import (
+    barrier,
+    gc_cuda,
+    get_fs_local_rank,
+    get_global_rank,
+    get_world_size,
+)
 from .util import (
     _get_s3_client,
     default_thread_count,
@@ -191,7 +197,7 @@ def load_fsdp_model_and_optim_state(
             ),
         )
         del model_state
-        torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+        gc_cuda()
         load_fsdp_optim_state(fsdp_model, optim, optim_state["optim"])
 
 
@@ -212,7 +218,7 @@ def load_fsdp_optim_state(fsdp_model: FSDP, optim: Optimizer, optim_state: Dict[
             v = state[k]
             if isinstance(v, torch.Tensor):
                 state[k] = v.to(device="cpu")
-    torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+    gc_cuda()
     optim.load_state_dict(fix_optim_state_dict(optim, flattened_osd))
 
 
diff --git a/olmo/torch_util.py b/olmo/torch_util.py
index 22afe57f5..a2149fb22 100644
--- a/olmo/torch_util.py
+++ b/olmo/torch_util.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import gc
 import os
 from typing import Optional, TypeVar
 
@@ -130,3 +131,9 @@ def synchronize_value(value: V, device: torch.device) -> V:
 
 def synchronize_flag(flag: bool, device: torch.device) -> bool:
     return synchronize_value(flag, device)
+
+
+def gc_cuda():
+    gc.collect()
+    if torch.cuda.is_available():
+        torch.cuda.empty_cache()
diff --git a/olmo/train.py b/olmo/train.py
index 3f20bde08..1494a1b49 100644
--- a/olmo/train.py
+++ b/olmo/train.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import cProfile
+import gc
 import logging
 import math
 import os
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@
 from .optim import Optimizer, Scheduler
 from .torch_util import (
     barrier,
+    gc_cuda,
     get_fs_local_rank,
     get_global_rank,
     get_world_size,
@@ -136,6 +138,7 @@ class Trainer:
     cur_train_loss: float = float("inf")
     indices_file: Optional[TextIO] = None
     _start_time: float = 0.0
+    _gc_init_state: bool = True
     loss_fn: Callable[..., torch.Tensor] = field(default_factory=lambda: cross_entropy_loss)  # type: ignore
     last_sharded_checkpoint_step: Optional[int] = None
     last_unsharded_checkpoint_step: Optional[int] = None
@@ -537,15 +540,19 @@ def restore_unsharded_checkpoint(
     def save_checkpoint(
         self, checkpoint_type: CheckpointType = CheckpointType.sharded
     ) -> Tuple[PathOrStr, Optional[PathOrStr]]:
+        result: Tuple[PathOrStr, Optional[PathOrStr]]
         if checkpoint_type == CheckpointType.sharded:
-            return self.save_sharded_checkpoint()
+            result = self.save_sharded_checkpoint()
         elif checkpoint_type == CheckpointType.unsharded:
-            return self.save_unsharded_checkpoint()
+            result = self.save_unsharded_checkpoint()
         elif checkpoint_type == CheckpointType.sharded_ephemeral:
-            return self.save_ephemeral_checkpoint()
+            result = self.save_ephemeral_checkpoint()
         else:
             raise NotImplementedError(checkpoint_type)
 
+        gc_cuda()
+        return result
+
     def restore_checkpoint(
         self,
         load_path: PathOrStr,
@@ -576,6 +583,8 @@ def restore_checkpoint(
         elif checkpoint_type is not None:
             raise NotImplementedError(checkpoint_type)
 
+        gc_cuda()
+
     def remove_checkpoint(self, idx: int = 0, checkpoint_type: CheckpointType = CheckpointType.sharded):
         if checkpoint_type == CheckpointType.sharded:
             self.remove_sharded_checkpoint(idx=idx)
@@ -936,6 +945,10 @@ def fit(self):
                 self.cfg.stop_at = min(self.cfg.stop_at, self.global_step + self.cfg.stop_after)
 
         self._start_time = time.time()
+        self._gc_init_state = gc.isenabled()  # cache if garbage collection is enabled, reset on close.
+
+        # Disable automatic garbage collection, FSDP doesn't work well with it.
+        gc.disable()
 
         if self.cfg.load_path is not None and self.global_step > 0 and self.cfg.eval_on_load:
             eval_metrics = self.eval()
@@ -1141,6 +1154,9 @@ def on_trace_ready(p):
                     if stop_at is not None and self.global_step >= stop_at:
                         break
 
+                    # Run generation 1 garbage collection.
+                    gc.collect(1)
+
                     # Python Profiler stuff
                     # We do this now, at the bottom of this loop, so we capture the work of getting the next batch.
                     if python_profiler is not None:
@@ -1178,9 +1194,15 @@ def on_trace_ready(p):
                 log.info(f"Checkpoint saved to {checkpoint_path}")
 
     def close(self, exit_code: int = 0) -> None:
+        gc_cuda()
+
         if self.indices_file is not None:
             self.indices_file.flush()
             self.indices_file.close()
+        if self._gc_init_state:
+            gc.enable()
+        else:
+            gc.disable()
         if wandb.run is not None:
             wandb.finish(exit_code=exit_code, quiet=True)