Matthew you can just leave it to die in the darkness.
Undisturbed soil has less need to recover than disturbed soil, same as with people. So while the polythene is on, just leave be.
Once you remove the polythene to grow your plants, whether it’s after 4 months or 2 years, (the timing is not written in stone), you do need to keep pulling before too much photosynthesis can reinvigorate the parent roots.
