Depending on your soil dig down just a few inches after you "spray water" and see the difference in the color of the soil and the moisture.Reptilicus wrote:wow, one hour? that seems like a long time. Is there such a thing as overwatering? I am a newbie and that may be why I didn't get a great crop last year. I did ok.
Many times people who just spray water with the hose are only wetting the surface. It can take some time before the water truely soaks in and gets down deep to where the roots of the plants are.
Also as opabinia51 said deep watering for 2-4 hours is good as it allows water to saok into the deeper roots.
If you just give them a spray watering the roots will stay or grow shallow. They don't get as many nutrients this way and if it gets really hot during the summer time the plants can dry out and die much faster.
By deep watering the roots can mine the soil deep down and have a better chance of surviving a drought or extreme hot period. They also provide more nutrients for the plant and usually provide a better yield in crops.
A typical tomato plant can have roots down to 4 feet or more in the soil. The typical spray watering with a hose wont soak in good enough to feed those roots.