The principle behind telehorticulture is the use of transference magic to transport vitality (mainly organic nutrients) from plants that are already growing in an area to those plants that are considered useful. This is accomplished by planting special magical vines that are either parasitic towards other plants or are parasitized by them. These vines form networks that harness the natural vitality of the land, channeling its energy into small patches where useful plants can be harvested easily. Typically, energy is concentrated by a factor of between ten to a hundred, resulting in growing seasons of a few days.
The main advantage of telehorticulture is that it does not require the clearing of land. This is useful in forested areas, and is especially useful in rainforest where the soil would otherwise be too poor to support agriculture if cleared. Moreover, there is no need to control weeds and pests; "weeds" are simply quickly growing native plants, which are harnessed as an energy source, whereas pests are in ecological equilibrium with the native plants and are thus controlled by natural plant defenses and predators. Thus, telehorticulture is very ecologically friendly, and does not cause serious disruption to the environment.
Another advantage of telehorticulture is the concentration of plant products. This makes produce easier to harvest. Fruit trees may have permanent ladders attached to them, and trails run between orchard patches for easy access in heavily wooded areas. Also, because the growing "season" is much less than a year, harvesting is year-round and does not require seasonal labor. Pollination is also much simpler, which renders the raising of bees more economical. Honey is a common sweetener in telehorticultural regions for this reason.
Telehorticulture is easy to apply to fruits because a large number of fruits can be grown from a small number of plants. It is difficult to apply to grains, because of the large number of plants required, and also because the normal method of harvesting grains destroys much of the plant in the process. For this reason, the diet of many Locus cultures emphasizes starchy fruit (such as loaffruit) as opposed to bread, which is a rare and expensive delicacy.