The influence of organic additives on the crystal growth of different calcite morphologies in two crystallization processes operating under steady state and batch mode is described. The crystal growth kinetics and overgrown morphological observations of rhombohedral, scalenohedral and prismatic calcite seed crystals in the systems containing etidronic acid (HEDP) and tartaric acid (TA) were investigated. The crystallization systems were of low supersaturations (SI<1.1) and of moderate pH (8.0). Kinetic parameters of the crystal growth in the presence of selected additives, such as reduction of the growth rates, rate constant and reduced critical supersaturation were calculated and correlated with additive concentration and different calcite seeds. The results indicate strong interactions of HEDP molecules and weak but specific interactions of TA for calcite surfaces. Interactions occur at the step edges which finally results in the expression of near-{hk0} faces and highly polar faces, consisting of solely Ca layer on the surface, stabilised by TA and HEDP molecules, respectively. The affinity of both additives is significantly higher for scalenohedral and prismatic calcite in contrast to rhombohedral calcite seeds. The effect of calcite seed morphology was attributed to different surface energetics of the predominant crystal faces of the studied calcite seeds. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.