Why remove the baby from the womb so early? Instead offer some protection from the hostile environment. The effects of the sun is the primary concern so why not offer the hip alittle protection with some sort of cover? Of course if you are dealing with large volume of hips let mother nature do her thing.
As soon as I pollinated I took the petals (I left as many petals on as possible) remaining and covered the top of the hips and secured with string (like a tent). Keeping bugs out and the rays of the sun off.The petal cover gave about a week to 1 1/2 week protection. So far 27 of 30 hips continue to fatten up. Here in the north east puts my hips in the 5 to 7 week time period. I continue to fertilize as normal. I have alot of “outie” seeds to deal with. I will think of a way to cover them.
Was it a quirk? It makes sense to protect the seeds from conception through development from the rays of the sun. Yet in April when after spending 4 months in the soil I pointed my pots with seeds towards the warmth of the sun and bingo germination began within days!