diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/trimmomatic/trimmomatic.sh b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/trimmomatic/trimmomatic.sh
index 55068f6a078..88990aa3ec8 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/trimmomatic/trimmomatic.sh
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/trimmomatic/trimmomatic.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # convenience wrapper for the trimmomatic.jar file
-java -jar trimmomatic.jar "$@"
+java $JAVA_ARGS $JAVA_OPTS -jar trimmomatic.jar "$@"