Herein, we describe the controlled growth of 1 dimensional germanium nanostructures from high aspect ratio nanowires (>10 microns in length) to shorter aspect nanorods (100 nm in length) via a simple pyrolysis method. The synthetic route involves the thermal decomposition of selected germanium precursors by dropping a solution in a high boiling point solvent directly onto a pre-heated Si wafer in the presence of a copper source under inert conditions.