Self-assembly of polystyrene nanospheres and reactive ion etching have been used to seed Si substrates on which Ge nanorods could be grown by glancing angle deposition (GLAD). This method enables production of large area planar-closed-packed arrays of Ge-GLAD nanostructures on Si seed patterns. A strong column competition on a broad seed width (ws) and a narrow interseed separation distance (Rs) causes the growth of closely bunched multiple structures on the Si seeds. Nanorod growth optimization is realized through the systematic variation of Si seed widths (ws) and the interseed separation distance (Rs), which enable the growth of singular nanorods on each Si seed.