diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml
index 3107514901c..dcaa5e6823f 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml
@@ -360,7 +360,9 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The maximum number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup or
-        shutdown to complete.  The default is 60 seconds.
+        shutdown to complete.  Defaults to the value of the
+        <envar>PGCTLTIMEOUT</> environment variable or, if not set, to 60
+        seconds.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
@@ -468,6 +470,17 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
   <title>Environment</title>
 
   <variablelist>
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term><envar>PGCTLTIMEOUT</envar></term>
+
+    <listitem>
+     <para>
+      Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup
+      or shutdown to complete.  If not set, the default is 60 seconds.
+     </para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
+
    <varlistentry>
     <term><envar>PGDATA</envar></term>
 
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c b/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
index a8a8564599d..4889e3a1a3f 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ typedef enum
 static bool do_wait = false;
 static bool wait_set = false;
 static int	wait_seconds = DEFAULT_WAIT;
+static bool wait_seconds_arg = false;
 static bool silent_mode = false;
 static ShutdownMode shutdown_mode = SMART_MODE;
 static int	sig = SIGTERM;		/* default */
@@ -1379,7 +1380,8 @@ pgwin32_CommandLine(bool registration)
 	if (registration && do_wait)
 		appendPQExpBuffer(cmdLine, " -w");
 
-	if (registration && wait_seconds != DEFAULT_WAIT)
+	/* Don't propagate a value from an environment variable. */
+	if (registration && wait_seconds_arg && wait_seconds != DEFAULT_WAIT)
 		appendPQExpBuffer(cmdLine, " -t %d", wait_seconds);
 
 	if (registration && silent_mode)
@@ -2214,6 +2216,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		{NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
 	};
 
+	char	   *env_wait;
 	int			option_index;
 	int			c;
 	pgpid_t		killproc = 0;
@@ -2265,6 +2268,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 #endif
 
+	env_wait = getenv("PGCTLTIMEOUT");
+	if (env_wait != NULL)
+		wait_seconds = atoi(env_wait);
+
 	/*
 	 * 'Action' can be before or after args so loop over both. Some
 	 * getopt_long() implementations will reorder argv[] to place all flags
@@ -2334,6 +2341,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 					break;
 				case 't':
 					wait_seconds = atoi(optarg);
+					wait_seconds_arg = true;
 					break;
 				case 'U':
 					if (strchr(optarg, '\\'))