diff --git a/pelab/bgmon/manager.pl b/pelab/bgmon/manager.pl
index bffa04fef08a3cb67c96b4fc353315513a923405..aa78e3017a1f8c18cdffadb03189d13272ea91d7 100644
--- a/pelab/bgmon/manager.pl
+++ b/pelab/bgmon/manager.pl
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ sub start
 	    foreach my $node (@expnodes){
 		#build string of destination nodes
 		#init bandwidth
-		my $bw_destnodes;
+		my $bw_destnodes = "";
 		foreach my $dest (@expnodes){
 		    #add destination nodes to this source node, but not "self"
 		    if( $dest ne $node ){