diff --git a/pandaharvester/harvestersubmitter/slurm_submitter.py b/pandaharvester/harvestersubmitter/slurm_submitter.py
index 5a23247b..f26f8e47 100644
--- a/pandaharvester/harvestersubmitter/slurm_submitter.py
+++ b/pandaharvester/harvestersubmitter/slurm_submitter.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def submit_workers(self, workspec_list):
             # make logger
             tmpLog = self.make_logger(baseLogger, f"workerID={workSpec.workerID}", method_name="submit_workers")
             # set nCore
-            workSpec.nCore = self.nCore
+            # workSpec.nCore = self.nCore
             # make batch script
             batchFile = self.make_batch_script(workSpec)
             # command
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ def make_placeholder_map(self, workspec):
             n_core_per_node = self.nCorePerNode if self.nCorePerNode else n_core_per_node_from_queue
         except AttributeError:
             n_core_per_node = n_core_per_node_from_queue
+        if not n_core_per_node:
+            n_core_per_node = self.nCore
 
         n_core_total = workspec.nCore if workspec.nCore else n_core_per_node
         n_core_total_factor = n_core_total * self.nCoreFactor