A method of stimulating ethanol production and growth of aquatic plants includes the steps of placing aquatic plants in a cell contain¬ing water and creating an anoxic condition within the pool to initiate an anaerobic process by the aquatic plants. The aquatic plants increase in size and release ethanol by metabolism of stored carbohydrates during the anaerobic process. An oxygenated condition is then created within the cell to initiate an aerobic process. The aquatic plants create and store carbohy¬drates during the aerobic process. The steps of creating anoxic and oxy¬genated conditions are repeated to stimulate increased aquatic plant size and to increase the release of ethanol.