diff --git a/controller/generic_controller.go b/controller/generic_controller.go
index c80e5353..83513099 100644
--- a/controller/generic_controller.go
+++ b/controller/generic_controller.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ type genericController struct {
 	generation          int
 	informer            cache.SharedIndexInformer
 	handlers            []*handlerDef
+	preStart            []string
 	queue               workqueue.RateLimitingInterface
 	name                string
 	running             bool
@@ -91,15 +92,8 @@ func NewGenericController(name string, genericClient Backend) GenericController
 		},
 		genericClient.ObjectFactory().Object(), resyncPeriod, cache.Indexers{cache.NamespaceIndex: cache.MetaNamespaceIndexFunc})
 
-	rl := workqueue.NewMaxOfRateLimiter(
-		workqueue.NewItemExponentialFailureRateLimiter(500*time.Millisecond, 1000*time.Second),
-		// 10 qps, 100 bucket size.  This is only for retry speed and its only the overall factor (not per item)
-		&workqueue.BucketRateLimiter{Limiter: rate.NewLimiter(rate.Limit(10), 100)},
-	)
-
 	return &genericController{
 		informer: informer,
-		queue:    workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(rl, name),
 		name:     name,
 	}
 }
@@ -117,10 +111,14 @@ func (g *genericController) Informer() cache.SharedIndexInformer {
 }
 
 func (g *genericController) Enqueue(namespace, name string) {
-	if namespace == "" {
-		g.queue.Add(name)
+	key := name
+	if namespace != "" {
+		key = namespace + "/" + name
+	}
+	if g.queue == nil {
+		g.preStart = append(g.preStart, key)
 	} else {
-		g.queue.Add(namespace + "/" + name)
+		g.queue.AddRateLimited(key)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -155,11 +153,31 @@ func (g *genericController) Sync(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return g.sync(ctx)
 }
 
-func (g *genericController) sync(ctx context.Context) error {
+func (g *genericController) sync(ctx context.Context) (retErr error) {
 	if g.synced {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	if g.queue == nil {
+		rl := workqueue.NewMaxOfRateLimiter(
+			workqueue.NewItemExponentialFailureRateLimiter(500*time.Millisecond, 1000*time.Second),
+			// 10 qps, 100 bucket size.  This is only for retry speed and its only the overall factor (not per item)
+			&workqueue.BucketRateLimiter{Limiter: rate.NewLimiter(rate.Limit(10), 100)},
+		)
+
+		g.queue = workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(rl, g.name)
+		for _, key := range g.preStart {
+			g.queue.Add(key)
+		}
+		g.preStart = nil
+
+		defer func() {
+			if retErr != nil {
+				g.queue.ShutDown()
+			}
+		}()
+	}
+
 	defer utilruntime.HandleCrash()
 
 	g.informer.AddEventHandler(cache.ResourceEventHandlerFuncs{