Diary:

 DAY 1: Sunday May 11

 DAY15: Sunday May 25

 DAY22: Sunday June 1

 DAY29: Sunday June 8

 DAY43: Sunday June 22

Cape Town:  Sunday 22nd June

When last inspected, the 100% kelp worm farm was showing signs of extreme distress, so I relented and mixed in some dry garden leaves and shredded cardboard with the kelp in the bin. The worm farm is now looking a little healthier. After the additions, I guess the kelp content by mass is currently about 70%. The kelp residue is now looking less gooey and does not smell that much any more and the worms are more visible  and becoming  lively.

The other bin with, set up with only 50% kelp still seems much more  healthy. The worms seem to be increasing and are active and normal looking.

Observation
  • I now believe that the raw kelp is just too rich to be used on its own, and it would either be better to pre-compost the kelp, before adding it to the worm farm, or otherwise just use it as a minority supplement to be added to an established worm bin (say 30%).  I also wonder whether sun drying the kelp to get rid of the moisture content first, before adding it to the bin  might be less overwhelming to the worms and give them time to adjust, as the fresh kelp en mass is really very slimy and yecky and quickly becomes smelly.

Anyway I shall persist with current proportions for the meantime to see what transpires in the longer term..