diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/pom.xml b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/pom.xml
index 91dd269..5139fb7 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -70,6 +70,11 @@
             <artifactId>maven-plugin-annotations</artifactId>
             <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.resolver</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-resolver-api</artifactId>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
+        </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>
             <artifactId>maven-shared-utils</artifactId>
diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/docker/client/DockerRestClient.java b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/docker/client/DockerRestClient.java
index ec2f978..718aaa5 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/docker/client/DockerRestClient.java
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/docker/client/DockerRestClient.java
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@ public DockerRestClient(final HttpConfiguration httpConfiguration)
         this.dockerClient = DockerClientImpl.getInstance(config, httpClient);
     }
 
+    public String getDockerSystemId()
+    {
+        LOGGER.debug("Getting docker system id...");
+        return dockerClient.infoCmd().exec().getId();
+    }
+
     public Optional<InspectImageResponse> findImage(final String imageName)
     {
         LOGGER.debug("Checking if image '{}' is present...", imageName);
diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DepopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DepopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
index 39705c5..779ad7e 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DepopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DepopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@
  */
 package com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.plugins;
 
-import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.client.DockerRestClient;
 import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.client.ImageTaggingException;
 import com.github.dockerjava.api.command.InspectImageResponse;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
@@ -47,21 +47,27 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException
         }
 
         try {
+            // if count is 1 then depopulate & delete file
+            // else  decrement count (don't depopulate)
+            final int populateGoalCount = getPopulateRegistryCount();
+
+            if (populateGoalCount > 1) {
+                writePopulateRegistryCount(populateGoalCount - 1);
+                return;
+            }
             new ExecutionImpl().executeImpl();
+            if (populateGoalCount == 1) {
+                removePopulateGoalCounter();
+            }
         } catch (final ImageTaggingException ex) {
             throw new MojoExecutionException("Unable to untag image", ex);
+        } catch (final IOException ex) {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException("Unable to update populate registry execution count", ex);
         }
     }
 
     private final class ExecutionImpl
     {
-        final DockerRestClient dockerClient;
-
-        public ExecutionImpl()
-        {
-            dockerClient = new DockerRestClient(httpConfiguration);
-        }
-
         public void executeImpl() throws ImageTaggingException
         {
             LOGGER.debug("DepopulateProjectRegistry with this configuration {}", imageManagement);
diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsMojo.java b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsMojo.java
index be0357c..9017a64 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsMojo.java
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsMojo.java
@@ -15,17 +15,28 @@
  */
 package com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.plugins;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.List;
+import org.apache.maven.execution.MavenSession;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugins.annotations.Parameter;
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
 import org.apache.maven.settings.Settings;
+import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.client.DockerRestClient;
 
 abstract class DockerVersionsMojo extends AbstractMojo
 {
     protected static final String PROJECT_DOCKER_REGISTRY = "projectDockerRegistry";
     protected static final String LATEST_TAG = "latest";
 
+    @Parameter(defaultValue = "${session}", readonly = true, required = true)
+    protected MavenSession session;
+
     @Parameter(defaultValue = "${project}", readonly = true, required = true)
     protected MavenProject project;
 
@@ -41,10 +52,70 @@ abstract class DockerVersionsMojo extends AbstractMojo
     @Parameter(property = "docker.versions.skip", defaultValue = "false")
     protected boolean skip;
 
+    protected final DockerRestClient dockerClient;
+
+    protected DockerVersionsMojo()
+    {
+        dockerClient = new DockerRestClient(httpConfiguration);
+    }
+
     protected String getProjectDockerRegister()
     {
         return project.getProperties().getProperty(
             PROJECT_DOCKER_REGISTRY,
             project.getArtifactId() + "-" + project.getVersion() + ".project-registries.local");
     }
+
+    protected int getPopulateRegistryCount() throws IOException
+    {
+        return Files.lines(getCountFilePath())
+            .map(Integer::parseInt)
+            .findFirst()
+            .orElseThrow();
+    }
+
+    protected void incrementPopulateRegistryCount() throws IOException
+    {
+        if (Files.exists(getCountFilePath())) {
+            final int count = getPopulateRegistryCount();
+            writePopulateRegistryCount(count + 1);
+        } else {
+            writePopulateRegistryCount(1);
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected void writePopulateRegistryCount(final int count) throws IOException
+    {
+        Files.write(getCountFilePath(), ("" + count).getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+    }
+
+    protected void removePopulateGoalCounter() throws IOException
+    {
+        Files.deleteIfExists(getCountFilePath());
+        // TODO: remove the .m2\repository\.cache\docker-version-plugin folder if it has no more files?
+    }
+
+    private String getCacheId()
+    {
+        final String dockerHostId = dockerClient.getDockerSystemId();
+        return dockerHostId + "-" + getProjectDockerRegister();
+    }
+
+    private File getCacheDirectory() throws IOException
+    {
+        // Create a folder for the plugin to create a file to store counter_per_docker_host
+        // .m2\repository\.cache\docker-version-plugin\<docker_host_id>-<projectRegistrydir>
+        final File cacheFolder = new File(
+            session.getRepositorySession().getLocalRepository().getBasedir(),
+            ".cache/docker-versions-plugin");
+        if (!Files.exists(Paths.get(cacheFolder.getAbsolutePath()))) {
+            Files.createDirectory(Paths.get(cacheFolder.getAbsolutePath()));
+        }
+        return cacheFolder;
+    }
+
+    private Path getCountFilePath() throws IOException
+    {
+        return Paths.get(getCacheDirectory().getAbsolutePath(), getCacheId());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsUpdaterMojo.java b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsUpdaterMojo.java
index 37e17a0..789fb74 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsUpdaterMojo.java
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/DockerVersionsUpdaterMojo.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
 
-import org.apache.maven.execution.MavenSession;
 import org.apache.maven.model.Plugin;
 import org.apache.maven.model.PluginManagement;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
@@ -56,9 +55,6 @@ abstract class DockerVersionsUpdaterMojo extends DockerVersionsMojo
     @Parameter
     protected Set<IgnoreVersion> ignoreVersions;
 
-    @Parameter(defaultValue = "${session}", readonly = true, required = true)
-    private MavenSession session;
-
     protected Plugin dockerVersionsPlugin;
     protected Xpp3Dom pluginConfig;
     protected List<Xpp3Dom> imagesConfig;
diff --git a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/PopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/PopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
index a089dba..0a7131a 100644
--- a/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/PopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
+++ b/docker-versions-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/github/cafapi/docker_versions/plugins/PopulateProjectRegistryMojo.java
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
 
 import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.auth.AuthConfigHelper;
 import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.auth.DockerRegistryAuthException;
-import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.client.DockerRestClient;
 import com.github.cafapi.docker_versions.docker.client.ImageTaggingException;
 import com.github.dockerjava.api.command.InspectImageResponse;
 import com.github.dockerjava.api.model.AuthConfig;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException
 
         try {
             new ExecutionImpl().executeImpl();
+            incrementPopulateRegistryCount();
         } catch (final DockerRegistryAuthException ex) {
             throw new MojoExecutionException("Unable to find auth configuration", ex);
         } catch (final ImagePullException ex) {
@@ -64,18 +65,13 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException
         } catch (final InterruptedException ex) {
             LOGGER.warn("Plugin interrupted", ex);
             Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+        } catch (final IOException ex) {
+            throw new MojoExecutionException("Unable to record populate registry execution count", ex);
         }
     }
 
     private final class ExecutionImpl
     {
-        final DockerRestClient dockerClient;
-
-        public ExecutionImpl()
-        {
-            dockerClient = new DockerRestClient(httpConfiguration);
-        }
-
         public void executeImpl()
             throws DockerRegistryAuthException,
                    ImagePullException,
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a91633d..6fb68ee 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -176,6 +176,11 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-plugin-annotations</artifactId>
                 <version>3.12.0</version>
             </dependency>
+            <dependency>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.resolver</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-resolver-api</artifactId>
+                <version>1.9.18</version>
+            </dependency>
             <dependency>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.shared</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-shared-utils</artifactId>