Webdav PUT is slow

I want to replace scp’ing files with doing a http PUT to decrease cpu
usage. What I’ve noticed is that doing a PUT is noticeable slower then
scp. Its between 5-10% slower. I’m using curl and the -T option to test
the PUT.

Any ideas why it would be slower? I’d expect it to be faster then scp.
How can I speed it up?

This is my config.

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name hosta;
  root /mnt;

location / {
      dav_access user:rw ;
      dav_methods  put ;
      create_full_put_path   on;
      client_max_body_size 5000m;
      client_body_temp_path  /mnt/nginx_temp/client_body 1 2;

 }

}

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -V
nginx version: nginx/0.8.54
built by gcc 4.4.3 (Ubuntu 4.4.3-4ubuntu5)
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_dav_module
–with-http_gzip_static_module