Gardeners -- is this bug a friend or foe?

[CoyoteMagic]

I've seen little houses for them in different gardening magazines. They look like straws

 

[NanaKat]

Better yet...it is a mason bee.
These bees lay eggs in holes in wood and can be colonized in straws set up in a container in your garden. They are great pollinators and unlike honey bees, they neither store honey or create a hive. They are docile.

The female makes her tunnel or picks a straw, then lays an egg seals it and then lays another egg, repeating the process until she has filled the space. The eggs hatch in the spring and the process starts all over.

You can attract more to your garden by setting up a block of wood with holes drilled into the block. Or you can set up a container filled with straws. The block or container should be attached to a 24 inch square piece of panel board to block the wind. Face the block or container to the mid morning sun

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Thanks for the info Nana. I have a friend who works for the state who is doing research on the decline of the honeybee.

Now if I could figure out what is eating my peppers!!!

 

[Lady_Cluck]

Yes, thank you Nana. Thank you everyone.

Mason bee...I will leave it be then!

As for the peppers...I've had problems with tomato hornworms feasting on my peppers before. They're hard to spot until they get a little bigger. But chickens LOVE them!

 

[b.hromada]

Perhaps its a cutter bee, I've heard of them. Looks like thats what he might be doing?