Indoor Veneer over Hardibacker

Hello and BIG Thanks in advance

DIY guy here tackling a man made stone veneer wall / backsplash in the kitchen. I mixed the Sakrete Veneer Thinset to specs 6 Quarts of water to 80 lb bag. Seemed kinda dry but also understood that its probably suppose to be a bit thicker to handle the weight of the stone. Anyway, backbuttered the stones with 1/2" or so of the mortar and created a 'vacuum' channel down the center and pressed against a water misted wall. A really hard wiggly push squeezed out a bit of mortar from the sides....a bit. Anyway waited to the bottom level to set a bit then worked up... The Problem...or maybe the problem. When I was pushing some of the higher stones it would apparently disturb/vibrate the backer board to the point where a title or two below would POP off That was POP off....not slide or shift. The entire stone complete with all the mortar would pop off. Is this typical until the grout is piped in? I did wait a couple hours hoping for a bit of curing....and gently with the tip of my finger pried a stone and it popped off as well. More time to cure? Grout? Or maybe mortar too dry?

Before I get too far I want to make sure I get this done right so I dont have a MAJOR problem down the road.

ANY help is GREATLY appreciated! JPICC

 

What material is the wall? Did you apply scratch coat of mortar?

Sounds like the mortar was too dry when applied the sticktion is usually so great that tiles/stone are difficult to pull off when mortar is wet!