That's funny, Uli, and something I'm pretty sure everybody who ever tried to hybridize has done. It's such a painful experience that it's rarely done more than once or twice.
That is actually why I made the effort one year to find out at what point it was safe to force open a pod. My conclusion based on doing it a lot was that at 12 weeks there are either black ripe seeds inside or it is empty. I never found white seeds developing at the 12 week mark. Before that time you can find white seeds, as you just did. More than 90 percent of pods that have ripe seeds inside will dramatically turn brown and black and crack open on their own. Some people make little net bags out of cheesecloth or women's hose or similar material and tie them around the green pods so that if they ripen and open when before you notice them the seeds will be caught in the bag and not be lost on the floor. I don't do that but I've trained my eye to spot the pods as they start to turn color and in many cases the pods open in such a way that the seeds do not spill out immediately. I've even found seeds still in an open pod weeks after it opened, the pod completely dry but still on the plant. That's rare, and you can't count on it, but it does happen.
Charlie
