Vertical Op maintenance.... I'm not doing it right

Hi all, I hate being lame at growing weed, it's the best plant in the world and deserves all the love in the world...but for the best of me, after a year of dabbling, I compare my yield of avg. 1 pound per 1000 Watts with the epic 4-6 pounds per 1000 Watts on the net, and I just feel like some trust fund baby who's thrashing his Lamborghini because he can't drive it.

I have a row with both sides lined up rockwool slabs and a vertical drip. The 1000 Watts are in the middle. Simple enough?

As far as my maintenance schedule is concerned:

Change water weekly or when the tank gets to half full (the pumps stress out otherwise)
Adjust ph and maintain it within range
Clean the gutters weekly
Foliar spray (algae/sprayngrow) weekly
Check for bugs
Check straws to make sure roots don't jam in them and stop the water from dripping
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And that's it so far. Anticipating the question : do you check EC levels...the answer is no if only because I don't know how to adjust it if it was off. I figured that since I change the water so frequently, it wasn't worth doing. I'm using a hydro recipe that's been tried tested and true, big brand name stuff in Qc that includes flowering boosters.

FIM technique was tried, the space between the plants from one trunk to the next is roughly 10 inches, so making them bushier didn't seem to help much. Lollipoping hasn't been done, if only because after four weeks of growth, the plants are just beginning to touch each other. Aside from the occasional leaf removal, no other touch up on the plant was done. I get bushes with a big bud and a lot of popcorn.

I wish someone had some pointers, it seems I'm wasting a lot of potential. BTW....I don't care if you have an 8 hour daily schedule, I'm up for it. It's not the lack of will so much as it's a lack of know-how.

Thanks

Vertical growing saves on floorspace, it does not magically create yield from thin air. You'll pull about the same numbers as others, just in a smaller footprint.

Leave the leaves alone. Don't buy into " their covering bud sites" some light trimming is ok but don't go nuts uncovering "bud sites" yes you'll get some of those funky leaves from vertical growing but until your late into flower don't be trimming too many leaves. For hydro growing less is more. The roots are directly exposed to the nutrients so a high ppm is counter productive. You shouldn't need to go beyond 800ppm with RO water. Ppm can be adjusted down at any time with adding ph'd water. PH is critical you should check it daily and then some. If needed drain it and adjust it or just change it but that pH will limit your "potential " more than any other single factor. You wanna grow hydro then pH control is numero uno. You have 1 full point to mess with 5.5-6.5. If your pH is always stable and never rising your not in the zone. Try lowering the nutes and staying on top of the pH and you'll see the potential that hydro can offer. RO water makes all of the above easier. Hang in there and if you can't do the above then I'd suggest you grow in soil.