椰糠需要像有机肥那样，在使用之前进行发酵/堆沤/堆肥吗？

格陆谷（Galuku）的两位澳洲专家给出了他们的见解：

回复1：

Coir on it’s own cannot be composted. You can have mountains of 100% coir and it will sit around for 100 years and will not compost. Composting is when organic material breakdown and become hot. Coir does not do this if it just 100% coir. If you add other organics to it like bark or leaves etc than perhaps it can be composted together with this other materials. But even then very little will happen to the coir except that it will make the composting processing faster due it’s AFP and WHC.

椰糠本身无法堆沤。100%的纯椰糠，就算是堆成像小山放置100年，也无法堆沤。“堆沤”（compost）这个概念是指有机物质分解，成为热量。100%的纯椰糠不会发生这种变化。如果加入其他有机质，比如树皮、树叶之类的，那么椰糠会和这些物质一起进行腐烂堆沤。但对于椰糠本身，发生的变化并没有多少。椰糠会加速堆沤的过程，因为它具有很高的透气性（AFP）和持水性（WHC）。

So, the people asking this question is either:

1. Being told incorrect information by other suppliers or
2. They mean is the coir aged, which is how old is the raw material is prior to making blocks and briqs. Coir should at least be 6 months old. After that time it stops microscopically changing and also the tannins becomes fixed after that time. Aging means the raw material is just left for 6 months before using it to do any products with it, but it can go through the washing process etc during this time as well.

所以，有人问这些问题可能是因为：

1）被不专业的椰糠供应商告知的错误信息
2）也可能是指椰糠的老化时间（aging），即在做成椰糠砖和椰糠块之前的椰糠原材料有多已经放置了多久。椰糠（在制成产品之前）必须堆放6个月，这样能保证椰糠的结构不会再发生微态变化，同时能固定鞣质（tannis）。“老化”这一概念是指椰糠原材料在制成产品之前要堆放6个月，这段时间也可以进行淋洗过程。

回复2：

Coir like good quality peat does not need to be composted. Composting is required when low quality materials are used in a growing medium. Materials that are rapidly decomposed should not be used in a growing medium until they have been composted. Composting must be done until all the readily used carbon compounds (sugars and cellulose) are consumed by the microorganisms and the material becomes physically stable (doesnt lose volume with time). One of the indicators of compost maturity is a high lignin/ cellulose ratio. In other words, composting is required to make a material that has the same properties as coir (high lignin content).

椰糠和高品质的草炭（peat）一样都不需要堆沤。堆沤是用品质较差的材料作为种植基质时才会需要的步骤。腐烂快的材料在进行堆沤之前是不建议作为种植基质来使用的。堆沤要进行到含碳化合物（糖类和纤维素）被微生物消化，材料本身在物理性质上变得稳定（不会再随时间而体积减少）的时候。堆沤完成的标准之一是木质素和纤维素的比值高。换句话说，堆沤就是需要让材料的性质变得像椰糠一样（具有较高的木质素成分）。

Aging coir to reduce the impact of tannins is important. This is why older darker coir is preferable to fresh lighter coloured coir. Tannins will damage fine roots.

老化椰糠（aging）来减少鞣质的影响是非常重要的。这也是为什么颜色更深的老椰糠比颜色较浅的新椰糠更好，因为鞣质会损伤较细的根。