The class of indirect objects assigned to the word “grow” by modern English speakers is overly broad. You can not grow an economy. You can only limit spending. You can not grow forces. You can only train them and hope for the best. You CAN grow a beard (some of you can, anyways). It’s easy and it happens without direction, as growth, being a chaotic force, implies. At it’s inception, the word growth has no indirect object, as, of course, a plant grows. Of course, this is all just a prescriptive opinion, as opposed to a descriptive observation of usage.
Not everyone feels the same prescriptive pull; feel free to contradict with your own opinion. Not all people witness the same events; feel free to add your own descriptions of appropriate or inappropriate uses.
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