diff --git a/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java b/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
index 062a8e2b3..c5b075722 100644
--- a/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
+++ b/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
@@ -63,14 +63,7 @@ private void deleteBranch(PullRequest pr) {
             log.info("Pull request pre-integration branch " + PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr) + " doesn't exist on remote - ignoring");
             return;
         }
-
-        var hostedRepositoryPool = new HostedRepositoryPool(seedFolder);
-        try {
-            var seedRepo = hostedRepositoryPool.seedRepository(pr.repository(), false);
-            seedRepo.prune(new Branch(PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr)), pr.repository().url().toString());
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
-        }
+        pr.repository().deleteBranch(PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr));
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java b/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
index 33daeaa0f..48e827fb5 100644
--- a/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
+++ b/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
@@ -131,6 +131,17 @@ void updated(TestInfo testInfo) throws IOException {
             // Push another change
             var updatedHash = CheckableRepository.appendAndCommit(localRepo, "Yet another line");
             localRepo.push(updatedHash, repo.url(), "source");
+
+            // Make sure that the push registered
+            var lastHeadHash = pr.headHash();
+            var refreshCount = 0;
+            do {
+                pr = repo.pullRequest(pr.id());
+                if (refreshCount++ > 100) {
+                    fail("The PR did not update after the new push");
+                }
+            } while (pr.headHash().equals(lastHeadHash));
+
             TestBotRunner.runPeriodicItems(notifyBot);
 
             // The branch should have been updated
diff --git a/bots/tester/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/tester/InMemoryHostedRepository.java b/bots/tester/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/tester/InMemoryHostedRepository.java
index f4cf4d88c..90c231356 100644
--- a/bots/tester/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/tester/InMemoryHostedRepository.java
+++ b/bots/tester/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/tester/InMemoryHostedRepository.java
@@ -153,6 +153,10 @@ public List<HostedBranch> branches() {
         return List.of();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void deleteBranch(String ref) {
+    }
+
     @Override
     public List<CommitComment> commitComments(Hash commit) {
         return List.of();
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/HostedRepository.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/HostedRepository.java
index e8f84e4b6..044c1a3cc 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/HostedRepository.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/HostedRepository.java
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ PullRequest createPullRequest(HostedRepository target,
     long id();
     Hash branchHash(String ref);
     List<HostedBranch> branches();
+    void deleteBranch(String ref);
     List<CommitComment> commitComments(Hash hash);
     default List<CommitComment> recentCommitComments() {
         return recentCommitComments(Map.of(), Set.of());
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/github/GitHubRepository.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/github/GitHubRepository.java
index 33360e532..d55d56342 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/github/GitHubRepository.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/github/GitHubRepository.java
@@ -270,6 +270,12 @@ public List<HostedBranch> branches() {
                        .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void deleteBranch(String ref) {
+        request.delete("git/refs/heads/" + ref)
+               .execute();
+    }
+
     private CommitComment toCommitComment(JSONValue o) {
         var hash = new Hash(o.get("commit_id").asString());
         var line = o.get("line").isNull()? -1 : o.get("line").asInt();
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
index bcf64ced6..919868520 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/forge/gitlab/GitLabRepository.java
@@ -313,6 +313,12 @@ public List<HostedBranch> branches() {
                        .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void deleteBranch(String ref) {
+        request.delete("repository/branches/" + URLEncoder.encode(ref, StandardCharsets.US_ASCII))
+               .execute();
+    }
+
     private CommitComment toCommitComment(Hash hash, JSONValue o) {
        var line = o.get("line").isNull()? -1 : o.get("line").asInt();
        var path = o.get("path").isNull()? null : Path.of(o.get("path").asString());
diff --git a/test/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/test/TestHostedRepository.java b/test/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/test/TestHostedRepository.java
index d649da30e..91ac6df93 100644
--- a/test/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/test/TestHostedRepository.java
+++ b/test/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/test/TestHostedRepository.java
@@ -204,6 +204,15 @@ public List<HostedBranch> branches() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void deleteBranch(String ref) {
+        try {
+            localRepository.delete(new Branch(ref));
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public List<CommitComment> commitComments(Hash hash) {
         if (!commitComments.containsKey(hash)) {