diff --git a/query-engine/query-engine/src/capture_exporter.rs b/query-engine/query-engine/src/capture_exporter.rs
index 7346de0036f4..a62940379379 100644
--- a/query-engine/query-engine/src/capture_exporter.rs
+++ b/query-engine/query-engine/src/capture_exporter.rs
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ pub struct ConfiguredCapturer {
 
 impl ConfiguredCapturer {
     pub async fn start_capturing(&self) {
-        self.capturer.start_capturing(self.trace_id).await
+        self.capturer
+            .start_capturing(self.trace_id, CaptureTimeout::Default)
+            .await
     }
 
     pub async fn fetch_captures(&self) -> Vec<UserFacingSpan> {
@@ -93,22 +95,45 @@ impl PipelineBuilder {
 /// later retrieval
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct CaptureExporter {
-    traces: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<TraceId, Vec<SpanData>>>>,
+    pub(crate) traces: Arc<Mutex<HashMap<TraceId, Vec<SpanData>>>>,
+}
+
+pub(crate) enum CaptureTimeout {
+    #[allow(dead_code)]
+    Duration(Duration),
+    Default,
 }
 
 impl CaptureExporter {
+    const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(1800);
+
     pub fn new() -> Self {
         Self {
             traces: Default::default(),
         }
     }
 
-    pub async fn start_capturing(&self, trace_id: TraceId) {
-        let mut traces = self.traces.lock().await;
-        traces.insert(trace_id, Vec::new());
+    pub(crate) async fn start_capturing(&self, trace_id: TraceId, timeout: CaptureTimeout) {
+        let mut locked_traces = self.traces.lock().await;
+        locked_traces.insert(trace_id, Vec::new());
+        drop(locked_traces);
+
+        let when = match timeout {
+            CaptureTimeout::Duration(d) => d,
+            CaptureTimeout::Default => Self::DEFAULT_TIMEOUT,
+        };
+
+        let traces = self.traces.clone();
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            tokio::time::sleep(when).await;
+            let mut locked_traces = traces.lock().await;
+            if let Some(_) = locked_traces.remove(&trace_id) {
+                warn!("Timeout waiting for spans to be captured. trace_id={}", trace_id)
+            }
+        });
     }
 
-    pub async fn fetch_captures(&self, trace_id: TraceId) -> Vec<UserFacingSpan> {
+    pub(crate) async fn fetch_captures(&self, trace_id: TraceId) -> Vec<UserFacingSpan> {
         let mut traces = self.traces.lock().await;
 
         let spans = if let Some(spans) = traces.remove(&trace_id) {
@@ -135,7 +160,7 @@ impl SpanExporter for CaptureExporter {
         for span in batch {
             let trace_id = span.span_context.trace_id();
 
-            if let Some(spans) = traces.get_mut(&trace_id) {
+            if traces.get_mut(&trace_id).is_some() {
                 spans.push(span)
             }
         }
@@ -143,3 +168,29 @@ impl SpanExporter for CaptureExporter {
         Ok(())
     }
 }
+
+// tests for capture exporter
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use std::time::Duration;
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_garbage_collection() {
+        let exporter = CaptureExporter::new();
+
+        let trace_id = TraceId::from_hex("1").unwrap();
+        let one_ms = Duration::from_millis(1);
+        exporter
+            .start_capturing(trace_id, CaptureTimeout::Duration(one_ms))
+            .await;
+        let traces = exporter.traces.lock().await;
+        assert!(traces.get(&trace_id).is_some());
+        drop(traces);
+
+        tokio::time::sleep(10 * one_ms).await;
+
+        let traces = exporter.traces.lock().await;
+        assert!(traces.get(&trace_id).is_none());
+    }
+}