this is oversophistication that likely doesn't do anything beneficial..
but you can use any material that holds water, technically. whether or not it adds something beneficial or harmful is the question... far more likely something not useful than useful.
as long as it doesn't drown the roots or some vitamin/mineral that interferes or slows process, it'd work... ppl use paper towels, lol.. and that has remnants of bleach in it most the time, lol. just cause it works doesn't mean it's a good idea. save time.. sow in most convenient way with least effort required, imho, cause it makes little difference.