Growth Aura

The Growth Aura is an Item that boosts Crop growth in an area around the player.

General Description
The Growth Aura is an Item that can be found within various locations, including being sold from the Rose Trader, given by Spouses, and rarely as a reward from Seasonal Festivals. Upon being picked up, it will create a purple, Crop growth boosting effect centered around the player. The effect can be seem in action through the small particle affects that will appear. This boost will double the growth rate of all Crops within a 5x5 range around the player while they are nearby. When the player moves away from any Crops within Growth Aura's 5x5 range that given Crop will stop being boosted until the player moves closer.

Comparison
Several other items are capable of boosting Crop growth, including Turret Growth Aura, Harvest Moon, Bees, Hummingbirds, and Rain Scrolls. Compared to any of these, Growth Aura cannot be utilized as much. This is due to how the Growth Aura relies on the position of the player in order to boost any nearby Crops. Because of this, it is rendered completely useless while the player is exploring Biomes, as they will be unable to boost any Crops. Similarly, due to it's range of only 5x5, the player will practically have to be hugging their Crops in order for this to be utilized effectively. This can be difficult when bullet heavy situations are present on the Farm, such as during Boss Fights or even during later Years. As such, this Growth Aura is primarily viable during the calm portions of day or early nights in the Year. This makes all other growth boosting items somewhat more preferable, as they all function without the player's influence.

Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon serves a similar and somewhat upgraded function, as it will simultaneously boost the growth of all Crops currently on the Farm, however it only functions during night. Due to how the player will likely spend most nights nearby Crops, it can be debated that these Items are not very different. In that regard, it can be argued that Growth Aura is better for all portions of the day, whereas Harvest Moon is superior at night.

Turret Growth Aura
Like Growth Aura, Turret Growth Aura is also able to boost the growth rate of all Crops within a 5x5 square, only instead of being centered around the player it functions with a larger variety of things, including Turrets, Scarecrows, and the Curret. However, due to how all of the mentioned items are stationary and will always be sitting on the Farm, Turret Growth Aura is capable of delivering it's effect throughout the entire day. In addition, Turret Growth Aura can be used more than once, as it affects all Turrets and Scarecrows, not just a single beneficiary. However, Turret Growth Aura relies heavily on the collection of other resources in order to work effectively. But usually, the beneficiaries of the Turret Growth Aura can be found in abundance, rendering this downside less impactful overall. Regardless, both of these combined attributes of Turret Growth Aura's effect constantly working and potentially possessing a far greater number of beneficiaries overall makes it superior than Growth Aura.

Bees and Hummingbirds
The comparison between Growth Aura and growth boosting Farm Animals is similar to that of Growth Aura and Turret Growth Aura, as Bees and Hummingbirds will boost the growth of Crops they pollinate within their respective areas regardless of the player's current posistion. However, unlike Growth Aura, Bees and Hummingbirds are unable to boost the growth of Fruit Trees, as they do not ever pollinate them. Due to this, Growth Aura possess a slight advantage over these two options.

Rain Scrolls
Similar to Harvest Moon, Rain Scrolls are capable of boosting the growth rate of all Crops on the farm simultaneously, the only difference being that Rain Scrolls can have their effect utilized during any portions of the day. In addition, Rain Scrolls are the only base crop boosting Item capable of watering Crops, with the notable exception being Bees and Hummingbirds combined with Trophallaxis. At face value, this makes them superior to Growth Aura. However, Rain Scrolls possesses two downsides Growth Aura lacks, the first of which is a one time use per Scroll. This means that in order for players to rely on Rain Scrolls often, they will need to be constantly refilling their supply. Doing this can limit the benefits players can receive from other Scrolls. The other downside of Rain Scrolls is being limited to a timer, 30 seconds for Pigeon Scrolls and one minute for Scrolls. In both of these sense, Growth Aura has an advantage, as it is a permanent effect for the remainder of the run.