diff --git a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
index 23ac0952ed..249398f850 100755
--- a/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/core/trainer_builder.py
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ def create_optimizer(self):
             if self.args.loraplus_lr_ratio is not None:
                 loraplus_lr_ratio = getattr(self.args, "loraplus_lr_ratio", None)
                 loraplus_lr_embedding = getattr(
-                    self.args, "loraplus_lr_embedding", None
+                    self.args, "loraplus_lr_embedding", 1e-6
                 )
                 self.optimizer = create_loraplus_optimizer(  # pylint: disable=attribute-defined-outside-init
                     opt_model,
diff --git a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
index 2217855083..4e07c9260a 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/utils/config/models/input/v0_4_1/__init__.py
@@ -298,6 +298,13 @@ def validate_qlora(self):
                     raise ValueError("Require cfg.load_in_4bit to be True for qlora")
         return self
 
+    @field_validator("loraplus_lr_embedding")
+    @classmethod
+    def convert_loraplus_lr_embedding(cls, loraplus_lr_embedding):
+        if loraplus_lr_embedding and isinstance(loraplus_lr_embedding, str):
+            loraplus_lr_embedding = float(loraplus_lr_embedding)
+        return loraplus_lr_embedding
+
 
 class ReLoRAConfig(BaseModel):
     """ReLoRA configuration subset"""