diff --git a/pkg/localstore/gc.go b/pkg/localstore/gc.go
index 34618dae671..0773ac31dc4 100644
--- a/pkg/localstore/gc.go
+++ b/pkg/localstore/gc.go
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@ func (db *DB) collectGarbage() (collectedCount uint64, done bool, err error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return 0, false, err
 		}
+		err = db.pushIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, false, err
+		}
 		err = db.pullIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
 		if err != nil {
 			return 0, false, err
diff --git a/pkg/localstore/migration.go b/pkg/localstore/migration.go
index 280b22f811a..9b2ffd582ab 100644
--- a/pkg/localstore/migration.go
+++ b/pkg/localstore/migration.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ var schemaMigrations = []migration{
 	{schemaName: DBSchemaCode, fn: func(*DB) error { return nil }},
 	{schemaName: DBSchemaYuj, fn: migrateYuj},
 	{schemaName: DBSchemaBatchIndex, fn: migrateBatchIndex},
+	{schemaName: DBSchemaDeadPush, fn: migrateDeadPush},
 }
 
 func (db *DB) migrate(schemaName string) error {
diff --git a/pkg/localstore/migration_dead_push.go b/pkg/localstore/migration_dead_push.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6fcf31f35cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/localstore/migration_dead_push.go
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Swarm Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package localstore
+
+import (
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/ethersphere/bee/pkg/postage"
+	"github.com/ethersphere/bee/pkg/shed"
+	"github.com/syndtr/goleveldb/leveldb"
+)
+
+// DBSchemaBatchIndex is the bee schema identifier for dead-push.
+const DBSchemaDeadPush = "dead-push"
+
+// migrateDeadPush cleans up dangling push index entries that make the pusher stop pushing entries
+func migrateDeadPush(db *DB) error {
+	start := time.Now()
+	db.logger.Debug("removing dangling entries from push index")
+	batch := new(leveldb.Batch)
+	count := 0
+	headerSize := 16 + postage.StampSize
+	retrievalDataIndex, err := db.shed.NewIndex("Address->StoreTimestamp|BinID|BatchID|BatchIndex|Sig|Data", shed.IndexFuncs{
+		EncodeKey: func(fields shed.Item) (key []byte, err error) {
+			return fields.Address, nil
+		},
+		DecodeKey: func(key []byte) (e shed.Item, err error) {
+			e.Address = key
+			return e, nil
+		},
+		EncodeValue: func(fields shed.Item) (value []byte, err error) {
+			b := make([]byte, headerSize)
+			binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(b[:8], fields.BinID)
+			binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(b[8:16], uint64(fields.StoreTimestamp))
+			stamp, err := postage.NewStamp(fields.BatchID, fields.Index, fields.Timestamp, fields.Sig).MarshalBinary()
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			copy(b[16:], stamp)
+			value = append(b, fields.Data...)
+			return value, nil
+		},
+		DecodeValue: func(keyItem shed.Item, value []byte) (e shed.Item, err error) {
+			e.StoreTimestamp = int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(value[8:16]))
+			e.BinID = binary.BigEndian.Uint64(value[:8])
+			stamp := new(postage.Stamp)
+			if err = stamp.UnmarshalBinary(value[16:headerSize]); err != nil {
+				return e, err
+			}
+			e.BatchID = stamp.BatchID()
+			e.Index = stamp.Index()
+			e.Timestamp = stamp.Timestamp()
+			e.Sig = stamp.Sig()
+			e.Data = value[headerSize:]
+			return e, nil
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	pushIndex, err := db.shed.NewIndex("StoreTimestamp|Hash->Tags", shed.IndexFuncs{
+		EncodeKey: func(fields shed.Item) (key []byte, err error) {
+			key = make([]byte, 40)
+			binary.BigEndian.PutUint64(key[:8], uint64(fields.StoreTimestamp))
+			copy(key[8:], fields.Address)
+			return key, nil
+		},
+		DecodeKey: func(key []byte) (e shed.Item, err error) {
+			e.Address = key[8:]
+			e.StoreTimestamp = int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(key[:8]))
+			return e, nil
+		},
+		EncodeValue: func(fields shed.Item) (value []byte, err error) {
+			tag := make([]byte, 4)
+			binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(tag, fields.Tag)
+			return tag, nil
+		},
+		DecodeValue: func(keyItem shed.Item, value []byte) (e shed.Item, err error) {
+			if len(value) == 4 { // only values with tag should be decoded
+				e.Tag = binary.BigEndian.Uint32(value)
+			}
+			return e, nil
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	err = pushIndex.Iterate(func(item shed.Item) (stop bool, err error) {
+		has, err := retrievalDataIndex.Has(item)
+		if err != nil {
+			return true, err
+		}
+		if !has {
+			if err = pushIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item); err != nil {
+				return true, err
+			}
+			count++
+		}
+		return false, nil
+	}, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("iterate index: %w", err)
+	}
+	db.logger.Debugf("found %d entries to remove. trying to flush...", count)
+	err = db.shed.WriteBatch(batch)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("write batch: %w", err)
+	}
+	db.logger.Debugf("done cleaning index. took %s", time.Since(start))
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/localstore/mode_set.go b/pkg/localstore/mode_set.go
index f6ba20ec375..8b6a26c4861 100644
--- a/pkg/localstore/mode_set.go
+++ b/pkg/localstore/mode_set.go
@@ -227,6 +227,10 @@ func (db *DB) setRemove(batch *leveldb.Batch, item shed.Item, check bool) (gcSiz
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
+	err = db.pushIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
 	err = db.pullIndex.DeleteInBatch(batch, item)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
diff --git a/pkg/localstore/schema.go b/pkg/localstore/schema.go
index 07cf82cb4aa..8355eb74ae4 100644
--- a/pkg/localstore/schema.go
+++ b/pkg/localstore/schema.go
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@ const DBSchemaCode = "code"
 
 // DBSchemaCurrent represents the DB schema we want to use.
 // The actual/current DB schema might differ until migrations are run.
-var DBSchemaCurrent = DBSchemaBatchIndex
+var DBSchemaCurrent = DBSchemaDeadPush