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So my new house is almost finished. Will be putting in irrigation system soon. Will have about a dozen clumpers spread out on my 1 acre property. I’m in Gulf Breeze fl and we get hot and inconsistent rain. Will definitely have sprinklers for grass. Seems like sprinklers are not best option for bamboo, but not sure how complicated drip system would be. Any thoughts or recommendations? I don’t really want to get into a super elaborate project where even my irritation guy doesn’t even know what I’m talking about. Thanks

Based on your location, I assume your soil is sandy.

I do not think a drip system will be the best way to go on sand. The water will tend to move straight down, with little horizontal movement.

For the first few years, a couple microsprinklers per bamboo would be adequate, but these plants will grow quickly. At that point, they should probably be irrigated as if they were large shade trees.

If you know where you want your plants, and you are having a new irrigation system installed anyway, just make sure that your system is designed and set to thoroughly soak the areas where the bamboos will be planted. They should probably be soaked deeper than is necessary for lawn grasses, so higher volume heads or a longer irrigation cycle will probably be needed. I would just think "large shade tree" when designing the system.

Right after you plant, watch the bamboos closely. You may have to hand water during the first year, just in case their rootballs are not initially getting enough water.

You're in my area and we get a substantial amount of rainfall here. I babied mine with water for the first month May 2016 and watched for leaf curl for a few months after. I did have to water again from time to time during drought issues.

I haven't watered them for 1 1/2 years now and they look great, but I did notice my folks new Blue Chungii has a substantially larger root ball than mine planted at the same time Feb 2017 because theirs get watered regularly with a sprinkler system. Both of ours were brutally beat down this year from the winter storm, but the one I planted in 2016 weathered much better.

Boo loves water, but is drought tolerant after they've been established. You'll just have to decide how much of a project you want to make of it. It would be interesting to see a mature plant watered daily/regularly and a mature plant that survives on natural rainfall comparison.

Clumpers tend to swallow up irrigation systems. I would on leave a system in for a season and then use it elsewhere.
MarCat

We are almost a barrier island on the coast and the sea breeze seems to push most afternoon storms in the summer away from us. Since most of the bamboo will be spread out on the one acre and not concentrated in one area I will probably focus on heavy sprinkler irrigation. Definitely water seems to be the biggest issue with bamboo for the first couple of summers then does much better in the hottest part of summer.

I am familiar with the tendency of summer thunderstorms to rain heavily just inland, leaving the immediate coast drier than just a short distance inland, and I think that irrigation will provide a measurable benefit in your situation. Make sure that you combine your irrigation with adequate fertilization, if you want to maximize the benefits of the investment you are making in your irrigation system. In any case, irrigation will do no harm, and will be easiest to install now, rather than after the fact.

As MarCat indicated, you do need to be thoughtful in your placement of irrigation lines and sprinkler heads. The bases of the plants will widen each year, and you do not want them to run into the sprinkler heads. Also, the rhizomes of clumping bamboos could damage underground lines, if they were to push against the pipes. Basically, just keep everything a safe distance from the plants, and account for their eventual spread.