diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index bab1a02527..5d917da574 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -3101,6 +3101,9 @@ impl Tenant {
                 if let Some(queue) = queue {
                     outcome = queue
                         .iteration(cancel, ctx, &self.gc_block, &timeline)
+                        .instrument(
+                            info_span!("gc_compact_timeline", timeline_id = %timeline.timeline_id),
+                        )
                         .await?;
                 }
             }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
index e1e3eabb90..9e082d74b5 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
@@ -301,18 +301,12 @@ impl GcCompactionQueue {
                         let mut guard = self.inner.lock().unwrap();
                         guard.gc_guards.insert(id, gc_guard);
                     }
-                    let _ = timeline
-                        .compact_with_options(cancel, options, ctx)
-                        .instrument(info_span!("scheduled_compact_timeline", %timeline.timeline_id))
-                        .await?;
+                    let _ = timeline.compact_with_options(cancel, options, ctx).await?;
                     self.notify_and_unblock(id);
                 }
             }
             GcCompactionQueueItem::SubCompactionJob(options) => {
-                let _ = timeline
-                    .compact_with_options(cancel, options, ctx)
-                    .instrument(info_span!("scheduled_compact_timeline", %timeline.timeline_id))
-                    .await?;
+                let _ = timeline.compact_with_options(cancel, options, ctx).await?;
             }
             GcCompactionQueueItem::Notify(id) => {
                 self.notify_and_unblock(id);
diff --git a/test_runner/regress/test_compaction.py b/test_runner/regress/test_compaction.py
index f10872590c..c091cd0869 100644
--- a/test_runner/regress/test_compaction.py
+++ b/test_runner/regress/test_compaction.py
@@ -236,9 +236,7 @@ def test_pageserver_gc_compaction_smoke(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, with_b
     wait_until(compaction_finished, timeout=60)
 
     # ensure gc_compaction is scheduled and it's actually running (instead of skipping due to no layers picked)
-    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains(
-        "scheduled_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction"
-    )
+    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains("gc_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction")
 
     log.info("Validating at workload end ...")
     workload.validate(env.pageserver.id)
@@ -300,6 +298,8 @@ def test_pageserver_gc_compaction_idempotent(
     workload.churn_rows(row_count, env.pageserver.id)
     env.create_branch("child_branch")  # so that we have a retain_lsn
     workload.churn_rows(row_count, env.pageserver.id)
+    env.create_branch("child_branch_2")  # so that we have another retain_lsn
+    workload.churn_rows(row_count, env.pageserver.id)
     # compact 3 times if mode is before_restart
     n_compactions = 3 if compaction_mode == "before_restart" else 1
     ps_http.timeline_compact(
@@ -315,10 +315,6 @@ def test_pageserver_gc_compaction_idempotent(
             body={
                 "scheduled": True,
                 "sub_compaction": True,
-                "compact_key_range": {
-                    "start": "000000000000000000000000000000000000",
-                    "end": "030000000000000000000000000000000000",
-                },
                 "sub_compaction_max_job_size_mb": 16,
             },
         )
@@ -336,19 +332,13 @@ def test_pageserver_gc_compaction_idempotent(
                 body={
                     "scheduled": True,
                     "sub_compaction": True,
-                    "compact_key_range": {
-                        "start": "000000000000000000000000000000000000",
-                        "end": "030000000000000000000000000000000000",
-                    },
                     "sub_compaction_max_job_size_mb": 16,
                 },
             )
             wait_until(compaction_finished, timeout=60)
 
     # ensure gc_compaction is scheduled and it's actually running (instead of skipping due to no layers picked)
-    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains(
-        "scheduled_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction"
-    )
+    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains("gc_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction")
 
     # ensure we hit the duplicated layer key warning at least once: we did two compactions consecutively,
     # and the second one should have hit the duplicated layer key warning.
@@ -466,9 +456,7 @@ def test_pageserver_gc_compaction_interrupt(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder):
     wait_until(compaction_finished, timeout=60)
 
     # ensure gc_compaction is scheduled and it's actually running (instead of skipping due to no layers picked)
-    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains(
-        "scheduled_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction"
-    )
+    env.pageserver.assert_log_contains("gc_compact_timeline.*picked .* layers for compaction")
 
     log.info("Validating at workload end ...")
     workload.validate(env.pageserver.id)