diff --git a/src/api/init_msg.c b/src/api/init_msg.c
index 7d593eff4175a7abd294f160ba77ceaf92da6afe..96a7044495f434585b628ae746ce46529998549a 100644
--- a/src/api/init_msg.c
+++ b/src/api/init_msg.c
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ void slurm_init_job_desc_msg(job_desc_msg_t * job_desc_msg)
 	job_desc_msg->job_min_procs   = (uint16_t) NO_VAL;
 	job_desc_msg->job_min_sockets = (uint16_t) NO_VAL;
 	job_desc_msg->job_min_threads = (uint16_t) NO_VAL;
+	job_desc_msg->job_max_memory  = NO_VAL;
 	job_desc_msg->job_min_memory  = NO_VAL;
 	job_desc_msg->job_min_tmp_disk= NO_VAL;
 	job_desc_msg->kill_on_node_fail = (uint16_t) NO_VAL;
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
index d5f685c1694425a9182b05d68eb237264550530e..4cae9450d6238cbf9d9cadecb41b32f7ebdb11a5 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
@@ -2731,7 +2731,7 @@ static int _validate_job_desc(job_desc_msg_t * job_desc_msg, int allocate,
 	if (job_desc_msg->job_min_threads == (uint16_t) NO_VAL)
 		job_desc_msg->job_min_threads = 1; /* default 1 thread per core */
 	if (job_desc_msg->job_min_memory == NO_VAL)
-		job_desc_msg->job_min_memory = 1;  /* default 1MB mem per node */
+		job_desc_msg->job_min_memory = 0;  /* default 0MB mem per node */
 	if (job_desc_msg->job_max_memory == NO_VAL)
 		job_desc_msg->job_max_memory = 1;  /* default 1MB mem per node */
 	if (job_desc_msg->job_min_tmp_disk == NO_VAL)