How often do you replace them? I've used emitters at several commercial grows; we came up with all sorts of half-baked attempts to clean them between grows. Sometimes it was just easier to grab a new one from the bag.
I use a splitter to lead to four open tubes per plant. Two would also work, but four makes sure nutes are well distributed on the plate before it goes through to the medium. Least hassle yet in my experience, and I have not once had an issue with nute delivery. Other than a timer issue once, but recovery went fine without consequence to the grow.
We found (and this is commercial scale, like shitloads of emitters and with big pumps,) that no matter what you fed, running just pure water through it afterwords REALLY cut down on the sludge buildup both in the lines and emitters. Once we started doing that, we had way less emitter failures. Part of the feeding/watering process was that once the pumps started, you'd walk every table and check EVERY pot for drip flow. Some drip fast, some drip slow, some not at all. On some of those emitters, depending on the pressure or if they have a check valve, sometimes you could blow back water through the opposite end of the emitter and you'd literally watch a "snake trail" of slimy shit come out of them.
If you haven't ever broken one apart, sacrifice it to the cause. Some of them have intricate little channels in them, it's pretty neat.
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