You can get t's and four ways for the quarter inch line, you could have as many or as few open ended 1/4 lines as needed. I've used as little as two per five gallon bucket sized planter.
I like drip emitter tubing and other types of drip emitters, install a fair amount of it every year. Usually you can get several years out of it before it starts clogging, even if you have sediment filters inline. Some locations have water with so much mineral content that they will clog the emitter sooner than that. Some emitters can be cleaned, but unless it's a small amount it can take a lot of time and few people want to do that, and paying to replace it is not appealing to most. You can also use a proportioner to inject acids to prevent buildup, but I'd rather not do that ideally.
Some manufacturers will claim that that little diaphragm that regulates the flow out of the actual hole flutters a little bit, helping prevent clogging. Probably helps a bit, but it really depends on your water source and filtering as to how long it will take before clogging.
Guess I was trying to draw a parallel between the emitters and halos clogging, they're not the same but still a clogging issue. Many ways to get that cat skinned, or water plants in this case I suppose.
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