The invention relates to a method for changing the development pattern, increasing the growth and starch accumulation, changing the structure of starch and increasing the resistance to water stress in plants. The method involves culturing plants in an atmosphere containing volatile elements emitted by a microorganism, without there being any physical contact between the microorganism and the plant. The method is based on the discovery that the volatile elements emitted by Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts and microscopic fungi stimulate an increase in the growth of plants in general, with an increase in the height, the number of leaves and/or the number of branches of the plant, as well as an increase in the accumulated starch and structural change of this biopolymer, and modification of the development pattern, with an increase in floral buds. An increased resistance to water stress can also be observed, in addition to an increase in starch in leaves separated from whole plants.