diff --git a/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c b/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
index c19da3ba8..00c3f2489 100644
--- a/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
+++ b/gio/glocalfilemonitor.c
@@ -832,6 +832,7 @@ static void g_local_file_monitor_class_init (GLocalFileMonitorClass *class)
 
 static GLocalFileMonitor *
 g_local_file_monitor_new (gboolean   is_remote_fs,
+                          gboolean   is_directory,
                           GError   **error)
 {
   GType type = G_TYPE_INVALID;
@@ -841,7 +842,8 @@ g_local_file_monitor_new (gboolean   is_remote_fs,
                                           "GIO_USE_FILE_MONITOR",
                                           G_STRUCT_OFFSET (GLocalFileMonitorClass, is_supported));
 
-  if (type == G_TYPE_INVALID)
+  /* Fallback rather to poll file monitor for remote files, see gfile.c. */
+  if (type == G_TYPE_INVALID && (!is_remote_fs || is_directory))
     type = _g_io_module_get_default_type (G_LOCAL_FILE_MONITOR_EXTENSION_POINT_NAME,
                                           "GIO_USE_FILE_MONITOR",
                                           G_STRUCT_OFFSET (GLocalFileMonitorClass, is_supported));
@@ -867,7 +869,7 @@ g_local_file_monitor_new_for_path (const gchar        *pathname,
 
   is_remote_fs = g_local_file_is_remote (pathname);
 
-  monitor = g_local_file_monitor_new (is_remote_fs, error);
+  monitor = g_local_file_monitor_new (is_remote_fs, is_directory, error);
 
   if (monitor)
     g_local_file_monitor_start (monitor, pathname, is_directory, flags, g_main_context_get_thread_default ());
@@ -888,7 +890,7 @@ g_local_file_monitor_new_in_worker (const gchar           *pathname,
 
   is_remote_fs = g_local_file_is_remote (pathname);
 
-  monitor = g_local_file_monitor_new (is_remote_fs, error);
+  monitor = g_local_file_monitor_new (is_remote_fs, is_directory, error);
 
   if (monitor)
     {