diff --git a/distributed/scheduler.py b/distributed/scheduler.py
index 4649dc205d8..369fd070668 100644
--- a/distributed/scheduler.py
+++ b/distributed/scheduler.py
@@ -2899,7 +2899,7 @@ def is_rootish(self, ts: TaskState) -> bool:
         return (
             len(tg) > self.total_nthreads * 2
             and len(tg.dependencies) < 5
-            and sum(map(len, tg.dependencies)) < 5
+            and sum(map(len, tg.dependencies)) < max(5, len(tg) * 0.01)
         )
 
     def check_idle_saturated(self, ws: WorkerState, occ: float = -1.0) -> None:
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py b/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
index d0703361d39..dccdfcd8d93 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
@@ -4477,3 +4477,18 @@ async def test_scatter_creates_ts(c, s, a, b):
         await a.close()
         assert await x2 == 2
     assert s.tasks["x"].run_spec is not None
+
+
+@gen_cluster(client=True)
+async def test_rootish_for_many_tasks(c, s, a, b):
+    def f(x, y=None):
+        pass
+
+    base = c.map(inc, range(10))
+    derived = c.map(f, range(2000), y=base)
+
+    while derived[0].key not in s.tasks:
+        await asyncio.sleep(0.01)
+
+    ts = s.tasks[derived[0].key]
+    assert s.is_rootish(s.tasks[derived[0].key])