diff --git a/changelog/571.deprecation.rst b/changelog/571.deprecation.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..73750838d5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/571.deprecation.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Deprecate the unused/broken `pytest_collect_directory` hook.
+It was misaligned since the removal of the ``Directory`` collector in 2010
+and incorrect/unusable as soon as collection was split from test execution.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/deprecated.py b/src/_pytest/deprecated.py
index db43c6ca3ef..7e241ae1b39 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/deprecated.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/deprecated.py
@@ -49,3 +49,8 @@
     "--no-print-logs is deprecated and scheduled for removal in pytest 6.0.\n"
     "Please use --show-capture instead."
 )
+
+COLLECT_DIRECTORY_HOOK = PytestDeprecationWarning(
+    "The pytest_collect_directory hook is not working.\n"
+    "Please use collect_ignore in conftests or pytest_collection_modifyitems."
+)
diff --git a/src/_pytest/hookspec.py b/src/_pytest/hookspec.py
index 62e2155a263..1e16d092d0b 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/hookspec.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/hookspec.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 from pluggy import HookspecMarker
 
+from .deprecated import COLLECT_DIRECTORY_HOOK
 from _pytest.compat import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -205,7 +206,7 @@ def pytest_ignore_collect(path, config):
     """
 
 
-@hookspec(firstresult=True)
+@hookspec(firstresult=True, warn_on_impl=COLLECT_DIRECTORY_HOOK)
 def pytest_collect_directory(path, parent):
     """ called before traversing a directory for collection files.
 
diff --git a/testing/acceptance_test.py b/testing/acceptance_test.py
index cafc87f2e7d..861938617e8 100644
--- a/testing/acceptance_test.py
+++ b/testing/acceptance_test.py
@@ -221,6 +221,7 @@ def foo():
             "E   {}: No module named 'qwerty'".format(exc_name),
         ]
 
+    @pytest.mark.filterwarnings("always::pytest.PytestDeprecationWarning")
     def test_early_skip(self, testdir):
         testdir.mkdir("xyz")
         testdir.makeconftest(
diff --git a/testing/test_collection.py b/testing/test_collection.py
index 20afa42d0d4..90c248b4ab2 100644
--- a/testing/test_collection.py
+++ b/testing/test_collection.py
@@ -257,6 +257,7 @@ def pytest_collect_file(self, path):
         assert len(wascalled) == 1
         assert wascalled[0].ext == ".abc"
 
+    @pytest.mark.filterwarnings("ignore:.*pytest_collect_directory.*")
     def test_pytest_collect_directory(self, testdir):
         wascalled = []