diff --git a/models/fates/R/model2netcdf.FATES.R b/models/fates/R/model2netcdf.FATES.R
index ee493b3675..e429d8b66f 100644
--- a/models/fates/R/model2netcdf.FATES.R
+++ b/models/fates/R/model2netcdf.FATES.R
@@ -149,14 +149,14 @@ model2netcdf.FATES <- function(outdir, sitelat, sitelon, start_date, end_date, v
         }
 
         ## Put time and vars 
-        ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, time_var, mean(var_bound), start=c(month), count=c(1))
+        ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, time_var, mean(var_bound), start=c(mo), count=c(1))
         for (i in seq_along(out$var)) {
           if(out$dimm[[i]]==4){ # xypt
-            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,1,1,month), count=c(1,1,12,1))
+            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,1,1,mo), count=c(1,1,12,1))
           }else if (out$dimm[[i]]==3) { # xyt
-            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,1,month))
+            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,1,mo))
           }else{ # time_bounds
-            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,month))
+            ncdf4::ncvar_put(ncout, out$var[[i]], out$dat[[i]], start=c(1,mo))
           }
         } 
       }