diff --git a/workflow/rocoto/tasks.py b/workflow/rocoto/tasks.py
index 77847133a9..c24b4868e9 100644
--- a/workflow/rocoto/tasks.py
+++ b/workflow/rocoto/tasks.py
@@ -192,7 +192,11 @@ def get_resource(self, task_name):
 
         native = None
         if scheduler in ['pbspro']:
-            native = '-l debug=true,place=vscatter'
+            # Set place=vscatter by default and debug=true if DEBUG="YES"
+            if self._base['DEBUG']:
+                native = '-l debug=true,place=vscatter'
+            else:
+                native = '-l place=vscatter'
             # Set either exclusive or shared - default on WCOSS2 is exclusive when not set
             if task_config.get('is_exclusive', False):
                 native += ':exclhost'
diff --git a/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py b/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
index 11b2cdfc45..bf90192041 100644
--- a/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
+++ b/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ def _get_definitions(self) -> str:
 
         entity['MAXTRIES'] = self.rocoto_config['maxtries']
 
+        if self._base['DEBUG'] and self._app_config.scheduler in ['slurm']:
+            entity['SBATCH_DEBUG'] = '2'
+
         # Put them all in an XML key-value syntax
         strings = []
         for key, value in entity.items():