Described embodiments provide for controlling a state of each node in a scheduling hierarchy of a network processor. A traffic manager generates a tree scheduling hierarchy having a root scheduler and N scheduler levels. The network processor generates tasks corresponding to received packets. A traffic manager enqueues received tasks in a queue of the scheduling hierarchy associated with a data flow. The traffic manager maintains scheduling data structures for each node in the scheduling hierarchy. The scheduling data structures include a backpressure indicator and a timer indicator. If the backpressure indicator is set, the traffic manager sets the node as unavailable for scheduling and removes the node from the scheduling hierarchy. If the timer indicator is set, the traffic managers sets the node as unavailable for scheduling. Otherwise, if neither the backpressure indicator nor the timer indicator is set, the traffic manager sets the node as available for scheduling.