diff --git a/src/php/ext/grpc/call.c b/src/php/ext/grpc/call.c
index 0ec502262de52d18b61289f009c6d2bfe2b89370..2cd45f10dc45bae6485ae70539f53425f7f45af8 100644
--- a/src/php/ext/grpc/call.c
+++ b/src/php/ext/grpc/call.c
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ PHP_METHOD(Call, __construct) {
   call->wrapped = grpc_channel_create_call(
       channel->wrapped, NULL, GRPC_PROPAGATE_DEFAULTS, completion_queue, method,
       host_override, deadline->wrapped, NULL);
+  call->owned = true;
 }
 
 /**